Don't Give Up On Me
by redheadedsweetheart
Summary: Punk and his wife are going through a divorce after 8 years of marriage and 3 kids. Can Punk convince his wife to not give up on them? Rated T for now M for later chapters Punk/OC
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Ok, I completely acknowledge the fact that I already have three or four stories already in progress. But if I didn't get this one started, my brain was going to explode!

"Emma, I don't know why you have to be so difficult every time I want to take the kids!" Phil shouted at his soon-to-be ex-wife. She rolled her blue eyes at him; if anyone was being difficult right now, it was him. Why was it so hard for him to understand that she was the one who took care of the kids while he was off being a 'wrassler'? He couldn't just show up and take them when he wanted to; there had to be structure or there would be chaos. Phil thrived on chaos anytime and anywhere, while Emma preferred to keep the kids' schedule structured but her own life, when she was away from the children, chaotic. Since her and Phil had separated, she's found a fondness for alcohol and cigarettes and staying out all night with her girlfriends at the bar. She had been married to Phil for eight, almost nine, years and was done. She was ready to hit the dating scene again, whether he liked it or not.

"I'm not being difficult, Phil, I'm just telling you that I already had made plans for them to go to my mom's house this weekend. You can't just show up here and decide that you want them when it fits into your schedule."

"Damn it, Emma. That's not true and you know. I have every right to see those kids-"

"I'm not saying you don't! I'm all saying is that you should give me some notice before-"

"I shouldn't have to give you 'notice' if I want to see my kids!"

"Stop yelling at me!" she shouted.

"I'm not yelling at you!" he shouted back. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he heard a click and the line went dead.

Emma hung up the phone, leaving Punk to stare at it; he thought about throwing it against the wall, but then he would have to venture into society and buy a new one. Damn her. She was being difficult. They were almost to the end of their court ordered separation and then the divorce would be final. He didn't want it to be over; he still wanted to be married to her. He wanted to be a family with her and their three kids—Jack, Josh and Jenna.

Punk and Emma had gotten married in a spur of the moment ceremony when she was 19 and he was 25; their first kid came shortly after they were married. She was bound and determined to marry the straight edge man just to spite her mom, and it worked. Her mom refused to speak to her until Jack was born; being a grandmother won out over being angry that her daughter had married someone like Phil.

They lived fast, but without drugs or alcohol; they went out all the time to clubs to listen to the greatest bands that Chicago had to offer and she would come on the road with him and stay up all night debating politics and history with him and Scott. That's how they liked to do things back then. But now, now all they did was argue, mostly about his chosen profession and his inability to keep his mouth shut.

Punk sighed and redialed the number to his former home. When they had started the court ordered separation, the judge ruled that he had to move out of his own house. That irritated him to no end; he knew that when the kids were gone for the weekend or at school, she was having random men over or her stupid mindless girlfriends were over drinking wine and badmouthing him as a husband. Emma did things just to grate on his nerves; it was something that she did very well and she knew it. She was his weakness; he was strong in every other aspect of his life except when it came to her and the kids. She knew this and she used it against him every chance she could.

After three rings someone finally picked up. It was his oldest son, Jack. They had just celebrated Jack's eighth birthday at a strained birthday party at home. It was awkward for Phil because he had to constantly remind himself not to touch Emma or to get too close to her; she would scream if he did. She didn't want him to ever touch her again, she wanted her freedom from him.

"Hey, buddy."

"Hey, dad."

"Is mom around?" Phil asked as he started pacing around his small apartment, longing for the days when he had a five bedroom house on the nice side of Chicago.

"Um...I think so. Let me go check," Jack said quietly. His son set the phone down. Phil listened carefully and could hear Emma talking about not wanting to speak with him right now.

"Mom's busy right now. She wants to know if you can call back?" Jack said sadly.

"Jack, I don't want to put you in the middle of this, but please tell your mother that I'm on my way over and I suggest that she be there. See you soon, son."

"Ok, bye, dad."

Jack hung up the phone and turned to his mom. "What did say?" Emma asked as she folded laundry.

"Um. That he was on his way over and that you should be here..."

Emma let out a small scream of frustration. "All right. Why don't you go help Josh and Jenna get their overnights bags ready for grandma's house?" Jack nodded and went upstairs to help his little brother and sister. Sometimes it felt like Jack was taking on more responsibility at eight years old than he should. His little brother Josh was five and Jenna had just turned three; Jack took care of them in the morning when mom didn't feel good—he made them cereal and helped picked out their clothes. He even brushed Jenna's hair sometimes, when she would let him. Jack didn't tell his dad that he did these things; at his young age, he already knew that it would just start a shouting match between his parents, and then he and his siblings would get shipped off to grandma's house for a few days while mom calmed down. He did tell his Uncle Scott about it once. But Scott swore he wouldn't tell his dad. Scott wasn't really his uncle, he was dad's best friend and Jack knew he could trust him with secrets like this. He just wished that he didn't have to keep secrets from his dad. He wanted his mom and dad to be back together and happy as they were before. Something changed with mom after Jenna was born, and he had no idea why mom changed like she did; all he knew is that the new change in mom, made dad real mad and that he couldn't live with them anymore.

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"Emma, answer the damn door!" Punk shouted. She knew he was there and she was refusing to answer. He stood there for another five minutes looking like an idiot before he finally sighed and used his key to unlock the door. She would be pissed that he did that, but this still legally his house.

He walked into the living room and let out a groan. Beer bottles left over from who knows when were still on the coffee table and there were toys everywhere. Sometime around the time Emma decided she wanted to break up, she stopped being the good housewife and keeping the house tidy. Punk picked up the beer bottles and headed into the kitchen. She was sitting at the table, texting away furiously on her phone. He threw the bottles in the garbage and pulled out a chair next to her. She immediately moved away from him.

"Didn't you hear me knocking on the door?"

"Yeah, that's why I didn't answer it," she said sharply.

"Emma...why do we do this? Why is it always the same thing over and over again with me and you?"

Emma rolled her eyes and left the table. Phil followed her. "Why are you following me?" she growled as she suddenly turned around to glare at him.

"Because I was still talking to you, that's why!"

"Don't start, Phil," she warned.

"I'm not starting!" he yelled back.

"Yes you are! It's the same thing every time!"

Upstairs Jack was just finishing up packing Jenna's over night bag when he heard his mom and dad start yelling at each other. "Daddy's here?" Jenna asked excitedly.

"Sounds like it. Maybe we should wait few minutes before we go downstairs."

"They're fighting again," Josh said sadly as he sat on the floor and played with his wrestling action figures. Dad had gotten them for him for Christmas last year and Josh loved them.

"I know. Maybe they'll stop soon," Jack said optimistically.

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"I'm taking the kids this weekend, Emma," Phil said sternly as he watched his wife dig through her closet, looking for something to wear tonight when she went out with her girlfriends.

"I already told you, they're going to my mom's house. Have you been hit in the head too many times to remember things, Phil?" she said snarlingly as she turned to glare at him. She hadn't minded when he was an indy wrestler because his shows were always within eight hours of Chicago. But since he had hit it big with the WWE, he was gone four days at a time, and when he was home, he needed a day or two to rest and recover before he went out and did it again, leaving only one or two days for his wife and kids.

"Stop, Emma," he warned.

"Whatever..." she said as she went back into the closet, ignoring him, hoping he would just go away if she ignored him long enough.

"You know something, darling? This new attitude of yours lately really sucks and I'm pretty sick of it. What happened to the girl I married? Huh? What happened to my Emmy-Sue?"

She stopped what she was doing and froze. He was the only person in the entire world that called her Emmy-Sue. It was a nickname he only called her when he was being romantic. Flashbacks of the heated love making sessions they used to have flashed through her mind, but she quickly dismissed them. Their trial separation was almost over; there was no use in thinking about the past anymore. It was over.

"You have no right to call me that anymore," she said quietly as she finally found the perfect dress for tonight; it was short and red and would make Phil jealous as hell, part of the reason she picked it out while he was there.

"I can call you whatever I want, Emma. You're still my wife."

"Whatever," she said as she walked past him. He grabbed her arm and she looked at him with her blue eyes flashing with annoyance that he would dare touch her.

"Don't touch me," she whispered as she tried to pull her arm away from him.

"You used to beg me to touch you. What happened?" he asked as he guided her over to the king size bed that they used to share.

"Things have changed; I've changed."

"I don't understand."

She sighed, "I know you don't understand, Phil. That's why we're getting divorced," she said as she started to get up from the bed. Punk was quicker than her, however, and somehow had managed to move her so she was now laying down and he was on top of her. "Get off," she snapped. He knew she was about ten seconds away from screaming bloody murder, so he had to be fast. He quickly leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth while she tried to push him away. It's been almost seven months since he's kissed her. He missed her; he craved her. After almost ten years together, he still wanted her. She was the only woman he would ever look at like she hung the moon. "I still love you..." he whispered in her ear as he broke the kiss and moved off of her.

"Well that's too bad, Phil. Because I don't love you anymore," she snarled as she moved away from him quickly, leaving him alone in the bedroom that they once shared. Phil sighed; she was a difficult woman. Being difficult was one of the reason he married her. He liked a challenge.

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	2. Chapter 2

-2-

Emma locked herself in the bathroom and forced herself to breathe in and out slowly. Her husband knew how to push her buttons. "It will all be over soon," she whispered to her reflection in the mirror. She started putting away miscellaneous bathroom items when her gaze came upon a little black box. She hesitated opening it; she knew what was in there. It was her wedding ring. She had stopped wearing it when the judge ordered a trial separation. Today, however, she noticed that Phil still had his wedding band on. What made him hold onto the belief that they could work this out, stop the divorce proceedings and act like nothing happened? For as cynical as he was about most of life, he sure was Mr. Positivity when it came to her and the kids. She had no intention of keeping him from them; but she was hell bent on keeping him away from her.

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Phil walked out of the bedroom he once shared with his loving wife and wandered into the living room. He felt a couple pairs of eyes staring at him from the staircase. "Come on down, kids. We're done yelling..." he said softly as he went and sat down on the couch. Jack came down first, holding Jenna's hand and Josh was trailing behind his siblings. Phil smiled at the sight of his children; his boys looked just like him and little Jenna was practically a clone of her mother, right down to the dimple in her right cheek.

"Daddy!' she squealed as she let go of her big brother's hand and leaped onto Phil's lap. "I missed you..." she mumbled into his chest and she gave him a big hug.

"Missed you too, baby," he murmured into her dark brown hair. He sighed thinking about how much his daughter reminded him of his estranged wife. Not only did Jenna look just like her mother, she also had Emma's temperament—she could be sweet as an angel one day and the next day a hell raiser, intent on pushing his buttons. All the more reason to adore this child.

Jack and Josh sat down on the couch with Punk and he pulled the boys closer to him too. The four of them sat on the couch in silence for a few minutes before Josh piped up. "Dad, are we staying at your apartment tonight?" he asked with a hopeful voice.

It killed Punk to shake his head. "Sorry kiddo, it sounds like mom made plans for you to go Grandma Evelyn's house this weekend."

"I don't want to go there. She isn't any fun. Not like you, dad," Jenna giggled as she remembered the last time she spent time at her dad's apartment. Dad and Uncle Scott had put on an impromptu puppet show that had left her and her brothers laughing for hours. Dad was a lot of fun; whereas mom was too serious all the time and they had to be quiet in the mornings when mom didn't feel good.

"I am a lot of fun, aren't I?" Punk asked teasingly. The three kids nodded and a great idea clicked into Punk's head. Emma might have made plans with her mom to take the kids, but he was their father and he was in town for the next week. He should have every right to have them spend time with him. "You know what, kids, I think I'm going to call Grandma Evelyn and tell her that you guys are going to come to my house instead. Would you like that? We could have Uncle Scott come over and we could laugh at him." He smiled broadly as the kids broke out into cheers at the thought of spending time with both their father and their beloved Uncle Scott.

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In the kitchen, Punk dialed his mother in law's phone number. He knew he had to call from the land line or she might not answer. Emma had basically brainwashed her mother into thinking that Phil was the worst husband and father in the world and should be exiled from the state of Illinois. If only Evelyn knew what her daughter had been up to...

"Hello?" came Evelyn's crisp voice.

"Hi, Evelyn, this is Phil," he said as he tried not to grimace.

"Who?" 

"Phil. Your son in law," he replied as he rolled his eyes, thankful that she couldn't see him right now. If she had caught him rolling his eyes at her that would have launched her into a long-winded bitch session about how Phil had no respect for his in-laws or his wife and that he was a horrible father and blah blah blah blah.

"Oh. I see. What can I help you with Phil," she asked sharply.

"Well, I'm on off time for a the next week or so and I would like to have the kids this weekend."

"Well, they're not my children Phil, they're my grandchildren. You need to speak to Emma about this. Now, if that's all-"

"Here's the thing, Evelyn. Emma said that you were taking the kids this weekend, and I'm calling to let you know that plans have changed and you don't need to come into the city to come get them. They'll be staying at my place for a couple of days."

Silence. "Have you spoken to Emma about this? You know how she doesn't like spur of the moment plan changes."

"Oh, I'm well aware of what Emma does and doesn't likes. She likes her mom, doesn't like me."

"Can you blame her?"

"Ah, what are you saying, Evelyn? You don't like me either? I'm hurt," he said sarcastically.

"For your information, I never liked you. I never understood why my daughter insisted on marrying you. The only good thing that's ever come out of that abomination of a marriage are those children. Please tell Emma I will be calling her in a few minutes." And with that, his mother in law hung up the phone. Punk knew he had to act fast otherwise there would be a knock down drag out argument between him and his estranged wife over the phone call between him and Evelyn.

He walked back out in the living room and he swore his heart just skipped a beat and he had to remind himself to breathe. She still took his breath away even after eight years of marriage. He longed to run his hands through her long brown hair, feeling her purr in contentment as he kissed her neck and nibbled on her ear. He longed for the days when she couldn't get enough of him and his touch. Now, she didn't want him anywhere near her. He could tell right now that she was disappointed to find him still here.

"Kids. Are your overnight bags packed for Grandma's house?" she asked as she started picking up toys and putting them in the toy box. Phil knew she was only doing that right now to make herself look good in front of him. Basically she had this idea that she was good and that Phil was bad. It wasn't always like this though. At one time she had loved him enough to marry him and to have his babies. What changed?

"We're going to daddy's!" Jenna said excitedly as she bounced up and down on Phil's lap.

"No, you're going to grandma's house. She should be here at six tonight," she said warily as she looked at her estranged husband. She knew Phil well enough to know that he had been up to something.

"Actually, I called your mom and she said she would be delighted to let me have them this weekend instead," Phil said with a fake smile.

Emma returned his fake smile with a fake one of her own. "Gee. I don't remember my mom calling me and saying that."

"I called her." Emma saw red. Once again Phil had gone behind her back and done what he wanted.

"Kids...why don't you go outside and play for a few minutes while me and daddy talk about something."

Jack knew what was coming; he knew his mom wanted them to go outside so that her and dad could fight and yell and scream at each other. He grabbed Jenna off of dad's lap and took Josh's hand and led his siblings though the kitchen and out to the backyard.

Emma waited a minute or two until she was sure that they were outside. "What the hell are you doing, Phil?" she asked as her blue eyes flashed with annoyance for him.

"Taking my kids tonight, like I told you I was going to, Emma," he said as he emphasized her name.

"No."

"They're my kids too, Em."

"I already made plans for them."

"And I'm changing those plans."

"Do you really think those kids want to spend all weekend locked up in that shitty little apartment you call home?"

"I would have a five bedroom house if **someone** hadn't filed for divorce!" he said as he started to raise his voice.

"Oh, here we go again, let's blame Emma for everything!" she shouted back.

"I'm not blaming you for anything! I just want to see my kids, damn it!"

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you decided that the perfect life for you was being on the road all week and maybe, just maybe, having a day or even half a day available for them."

"Is this what this whole thing is about, Emma? My job? You never had a problem when I was wrestling for the indys."

"You were home every night!"

"It's also funny that you never had a problem spending the money I would bring home from the WWE. Hence, your fancy wardrobe, this damn house, that fucking car sitting in the driveway!" he shouted at her.

"I hate you," she said simply as she started to walk away from him. "You can take the kids but you better have them home Sunday night," she said as she walked upstairs to her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

Punk smirked. He had won, but at what cost?


	3. Chapter 3

-3-

Punk sighed and started up the stairs. He knew that if he left here with the kids when she was pissed off like this, he would regret it somehow. Emma had perfected the silent treatment the last few months; another one of those irritating things she did just to grate on his nerves. He walked down the hallway, slowing down to peak into the kids' bedrooms. He smiled as he saw Jack's room decked out in Chicago Cubs paraphernalia everywhere. The next room down was Josh's decorated in a Cars theme. Then finally there was his little princess's room. He smiled as he saw that Jenna had finally convinced her mom to paint the walls pink. How long had it been since he had been up here and actually looked around instead of just coming up here to find Emma and to pick a fight with her?

Shaking off that feeling, he continued down the hall to the master bedroom. He thought about not knocking and just barging in, but he knew Emma would scream if he did that. On second thought...

Punk opened the door and walked right in; he didn't care right now if she was going to scream at him. This was his house and she was still his wife; she had to realize what a huge mistake they were making right now by actually going through with this.

She was sitting cross legged on the bed with her head down. He swore he saw tears running down her face before she wiped them away and looked up at him with a glare. "Don't you knock?" she said softly.

"No. This is my house," he said cockily as he crossed the room and sat down across from her on the bed. Her first instinct was to move away from him, but instead she stayed where she was.

"What do you want?" she asked softly.

He moved some hair out of her face and whispered, "You."

She shook her head. "Can't have me," she whispered back.

He leaned in closer to her, "Yes, I can," he murmured as he felt a small victory when she didn't pull away from him.

"No, you can't."

Moving his face even closer to hers, "I can, and you know I can, Emmy Sue..." he trailed off as he covered her mouth with his. Surprisingly enough, she let him kiss her and she actually kissed him back.

"Phil..." she whispered as he broke the kiss, her blue eyes starting to glaze over with desire for him. It had always been like this with the two of them; they could scream and argue and fight, but a simple kiss could still make all the bickering disappear.

"Emmy..." he whispered back as his hazel eyes met hers. She was finally giving in; or not.

"Get out," she whispered."

"Damn you, Emma. Why do you do this? Why do you insist on being so difficult all the time?"

"That's who I am," she said as she moved off the bed and started to walk out of the room, leaving Punk alone on the bed wondering what just happened. How could she go from letting him kiss her to bitch in less than five seconds?

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"Kids! Come inside!" Emma hollered out the back door. It was almost six o'clock and she had to start getting ready for her night out. She smiled as she watched Jack gently stop the swing he was pushing Jenna on and lift her up and immediately took her hand. He motioned for Josh to start heading inside. She knew that since Phil had moved out, her eldest son had taken on the role of 'man of the house'. A title that made Emma nervous because Jack was only eight years old and didn't deserve to have so much responsibility with his younger siblings.

Pushing that thought away she said to the kids as they came up the deck steps, "Are all of your bags packed for dad's house tonight?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, they're all upstairs."

Emma nodded as she closed the sliding glass door behind Josh and followed the kids through the kitchen and into the living room where Phil had apparently made himself at home and was sitting on the couch with the TV on. Jenna's little face immediately broke out into a huge smile when she saw that her dad was still here. She climbed up onto his lap and snuggled up. Phil smiled down at his youngest and kissed the top of her little head. Emma watched from the doorway of the kitchen. She had been married to Phil for over eight years and it still amazed her to see how gentle he could be with the kids even though he spent the majority of his life getting beat up in a ring and talking shit to men twice his size. He used to be gentle like that with her too; she quickly pushed that thought out of her mind and went upstairs to grab the kids' overnight bags. Coming back downstairs, a framed photograph caught her eye. She stopped and looked at it for a second and tried to fight the feelings of yearning that were racing through her right now.

It was a photo of her, Phil and the kids the night he won a Money in the Bank ladder match. Those matches were brutal and he was all beat up, but at the same time he looked happy and content as he posed with his family and little Jack proudly held the briefcase that would guarantee his dad a shot at the heavyweight title. Jenna was just a baby and Josh had a huge smile on his face as Phil had hoisted him up on his shoulders. Looking closer, Emma saw that even she had a big smile on her face. Sighing, she started to move away from the photo and headed downstairs.

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Emma paused at the bottom of the stairs and watched in amusement as the three kids and her estranged husband sat on the couch together, lost in an episode of Spongebob. "What time are you bringing them back on Sunday," she asked as she set the bags by the front door.

"Late."

"Wrong. Jack and Josh have school Monday morning."

"Why am I always wrong, Emma?" Phil asked cautiously as he turned his attention to her.

"That's just the way it is, Phil," she said with equal emphasis on his name.

"Fine. Well, come on kids, let's get going. We got to call Uncle Scott and see if he wants to meet us for dinner."

Emma watched in amazement as Josh shut the TV off without a fuss; he loved Spongebob and it was usually hard for Emma to convince him to shut it off when it was time to go. That was another think about Phil that irritated her to no end; he had this way of getting the kids to behave for him that Emma never could. Mornings before school were a nightmare some days, and lately she found herself longing for the days that Phil would be home from the road and would be able to convince them to get ready for school without a fuss. He had a certain way with the kids that Emma found herself lacking lately.

Emma hugged and kissed each of her children good-bye. "Be good," she said as she finished hugging Jenna.

Jack opened the front door and his siblings followed him out to their dad's car. "Where's my kiss good-bye, Emmy?" Phil asked as he picked up Jenna's suitcase.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Good-bye, Phil," she said simply and started to walk away from him.

"Love you too, baby!" he shouted after her as he shut the door behind him, making sure that the door locked as he walked out. Emma was careless sometimes and forgot to the lock the door; it made him feel a little bit better knowing that she was safe as she headed upstairs to get ready to go out with her girlfriends for the night. Phil smiled to himself as he pictured her long and lean frame in that little red dress she had pulled out of her closet earlier...

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"So, he just came over and demanded that he be able to take the kids tonight?" Emma's best friend Amber asked in shock.

Emma finished the last of her drink before she answered, "Pretty much. He even went behind my back and called my mom and said that he was taking them and that she didn't need to drive into the city after all. Then, after they left, my mom called back, just bitching up a storm about how my husband has no respect for her and how he's rude and cocky and blah blah blah blah." Emma signaled the bartender for another drink. "I couldn't even get a word in edgewise to remind her that he's my soon-to-be ex-husband."

"You know, Em, I never understood what you saw in him."

Emma looked down and tried to hide the little smile on her face. "Once upon a time, we were actually happy together."

"What happened then? If he was so wonderful, why'd you file for divorce?" her friend asked curiously. Even though Amber was one of Emma's closes friends, she had only heard bits and pieces of why she had suddenly decided to end her long term marriage.

Emma's drink came and she paid for it. Taking a big drink before she answered, she thought about why she actually didn't want to be married to him anymore. "I was 24 when Jenna was born, and I suddenly realized that holy shit, I'm 24 years old and I have three kids. Phil was just starting to get over in the WWE and I was all alone with the kids all the time. I had no job, no college degree, no nothing. It was just me and the kids. All I was was a wife, mother, chauffeur, chef, maid and the list goes on and on. This wasn't how my life was supposed to turn out when I married him."

"Huh. But...I still don't get it; did he cheat on you or something? It sounds like you had it pretty good."

"Yeah, material wise, I had it good, but I missed him. And no, he never would have cheated on me. He's a good guy; I just...I just wonder if there's more for me to do in the world than to just keep popping out babies and keeping the house clean and the bed warm until he comes back. Do you know what I mean?"

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"Daddy, why is your house so messy," little Jenna asked as she wrinkled her nose at the sight of Phil's apartment. He chuckled as he thought about how much his baby girl reminded him of Emma right now.

"Because daddy just got home from being on the road. I haven't had time to clean up yet," he said as he walked into the tiny kitchen to call Scott.

He was just about to dial Scott's number when there was a knock on the door and then it opened right away. Punk tensed up and was ready to start throwing punches at the intruder, when Scott walked through the door.

"Uncle Scott!" Josh and Jenna shouted as they ran into their dad's best friend's waiting arms for a big hug.

"Kids!" he shouted back with a laugh as he hugged the two little ones tight.

"Hey, next time you knock on my door, wait for me to answer it, you doofus," Phil said with a big grin as he playfully punched his best friend on the arm.

"Hell no. You wouldn't have answered the door if you knew it was me!" Scott laughed in his defense.

"Shit. You sound like Emma. I bet I stood outside and pounded on that door for five minutes before I finally gave up and just unlocked the door with my key."

"Ah. Is Emma being a problem again?" Scott asked carefully.

"No, she's just being Emma..."

"Daddy? Josh said I couldn't sleep on the top bunk in the bedroom!" Jenna whined as she pulled at her father's shirt.

"Why not, baby?" Phil asked as he knelt down to her level.

"He said it's because I'm a girl! And that girls don't sleep on the top bunk! Then he said I had to sleep on the floor!" she got out before she burst into tears.

"Oh, Jenna...You're fine. Go tell Josh that I said you could sleep on the bunk beds. And if he gives you any grief, tell him if he don't listen, I'll make him sleep at Uncle Scott's tonight."

Jenna's little face broke out into a big grin as she darted away from her dad, shouting down the hall, "Joshy! Daddy said I could sleep on the top bunk!"

"What's wrong with sleeping at my house?" Scott asked.

"Nothing. I guess..."

"Whatever. So, what did you and Mrs. Emma get into a fight about today?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen and helped himself to a soda.

"The usual. She's a saint, I'm a devil, she's always right and I'm always wrong. I'm a bad husband and she was the perfect wife. Blah blah blah..."

"You know, I don't understand why you insist on trying to get back together with her; doesn't sound like to me like she really wants to work things out, Punk."

Phil shook his head. "She does; I know she does. I just have to find a way to convince her that it's supposed to be me and her forever."

"Good luck, man," Scott said as he chuckled.

"Luck is for losers. I believe in fate."


	4. Chapter 4

**4-**

Later that night, Emma paid the cab driver and started to stumble up the front walk. She giggled to herself as she thought about how pissed Phil would be right now to see her so drunk. She didn't care though; she was done caring. She wanted her freedom from him. Lately she had been thinking about what a mistake she had made by marrying him when she was only 19. Sure, she loved their kids more than anything, and her and Phil had made some good memories together, but somewhere along the way, she lost who Emma was as a person, not just Punk's wife.

Sitting down on the couch, Emma pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and looked at the time; it was almost three in the morning and she wanted someone to talk to in her drunken state. She smiled slyly as she thought of the only person she knew that would still be awake at this time and she was feeling feisty.

She dialed his cell phone number and waited for him to pick up.

"Yeah," he said quietly; she could hear the television volume on low. She rolled her eyes at the thought of him watching some dumb movie based on a comic book. He was such a nerd sometimes.

"What are you doing?" she asked slowly, trying not to slur her words. She didn't want a lecture from him about how drinking was bad and blah blah blah.

"Watching a movie. Why are you calling so late? The kids are already in bed."

"I didn't call to talk to them, Phil."

"Then why the hell are you calling at three in the morning, Emma?" he sharply replied. He had a funny feeling that she was only calling right now to get on his nerves.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"So talk. What do you want?"

She sighed and bit her bottom lip; did she really want to do this? "Is Scott there with you?"

"Yeah, he's sleeping. Why," he asked cautiously.

"Come over," she said simply.

"Emma, it's three in the morning."

"So? Scott's there, he can keep an eye on the kids in case they wake up. Besides, you know as well as I do that you probably didn't put them to bed until almost midnight anyways, so they'll sleep until nine or ten. Come over. I want to..." she trailed off, letting the sentence end like that so his imagination could take over.

"So we can do what, Emma? Come over and have you make me look like an idiot by not answering the door? Come over so you can yell at me over something stupid? Come over so I can hold your hair back while you puke? Come over so-"

"Stop, Phil. I'm only going to offer one more time."

"And exactly what are you offering me, Emma?" He was intrigued; she used to play this game all the time, and it usually ended up with the two of them having sweaty and hot sex on the kitchen floor. Is that what she wanted tonight?

"Me," she said simply.

Punk chuckled. "You said I couldn't have you."

"And you said that yes, you could. Prove it," she said as she hung up, leaving him to stare at the phone with a smile on his face. He could tell that she had been drinking, otherwise she never would have been this bold and teasing with him. He debated for a few minutes of whether or not he should actually go over there and see her, or if he should play her game and stay here.

It had been over seven months since they had made love last; sex was probably one of the things he missed most about her. Along with everything else...Eventually his manly urges won out and he woke up Scott. "Hey, can you keep an eye on the kids in case they wake up?"

Still half asleep, Scott nodded. "Where ya going?" he mumbled as he tried to stretch on the couch that he had crashed on earlier that night.

"To see Emma," Punk said as he pulled a t-shirt over his head.

"Why are you going to see that toxic woman, Punk? You know she's probably been drinking and is just playing games with you. You'll get all the way over there and then she'll do something to prove what a bitch she is; she either won't open the door or she'll get you all hot and bothered and then kick you out. She's done this before. Just go to sleep, man," Scott said as he closed his eyes again.

"I'm going over there, man. Promise to stay here with the kids until I get back?" Punk asked as he slipped his shoes on and looked around for his car keys.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess. But when you come back here all pissed off because she made you look like a fool, don't be a dick about it."

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Emma stared at her cell phone for a long time after she hung up with Phil; she couldn't believe that she had just dared him to come over and pretty much try and make love to her. What the hell was she thinking? Shaking her head, she set her phone down and headed into the kitchen to find the bottle of wine she had stashed in the cupboard. Phil was straightedge and didn't drink; for the longest time Emma didn't drink either until she decided that she had had enough of Phil and his 'rules'. Since their court ordered separation six months ago, she had taken a liking to wine, beer and rum. Sighing, she realized that she must have already finished the bottle of wine last weekend when the kids were at her mom's house. She stood in the kitchen and thought hard for a few minutes before she remembered that she had a small bottle of rum tucked away in her bedroom.

It would take Phil at least fifteen minutes to get across town. She hurriedly grabbed a glass and a can of Coke out of the fridge and headed upstairs. He could either let himself in or look like a fool in front of the neighbors knocking on the door—his choice.

Upstairs, Emma slipped off her red high heels and put them back in the closet; she was going to keep the red dress on just to see her husband's reaction when he got there. She smiled to herself as she poured a strong drink.

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Twenty minutes later, Punk pulled up in front of the house. He then sat in the car for another ten minutes trying to psyche himself up enough to actually go in there and do this with Emma. She had rejected him for the last seven months; no matter how hard he tried, no matter how romantic or sweet he tried to be, and no matter what type of lavish gifts he bought her, she kept turning him down. Until tonight. He was sure that she had been drinking, and from the sound of her voice on the phone earlier, she must have been drinking heavily. He just hoped that she hadn't already passed out; that would make this a wasted trip.

Not bothering to knock on the door, he just used his key and walked in, locking the door behind him. He sighed as he didn't see Emma anywhere downstairs but she had left every light on. He still paid all of the bills for this house, so it's not she actually made it a point to conserve energy. Seeing that she wasn't in the kitchen either or sitting on the back deck, he started to make his way upstairs. He wondered if she still had that little red dress on or if she had changed into something a little more comfortable. A huge smile broke out onto his face as he thought about the little black number he had bought her at a lingerie store in LA for her birthday one year. Maybe this was going to be a turning point for them; maybe she finally realized what a huge mistake she had made by filing for divorce and kicking him out of his own house. But then again, knowing Emma the way he did, maybe this was just another one her damn mind games that she liked to play with him. He still hoped that she had finally seen the light and was ready to take him back.

Creeping down the hallway slowly, he made his way to their once shared bedroom; the door was slightly ajar. Peeking in, he saw her sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing her red dress, and she was looking at something. A book maybe?

Slowly opening the door, he moved inside the room without her noticing him and watched her for a few minutes. He finally recognized the book she was looking at; it was the photo album. He smiled a little thinking of all of the memories that they had made together over the ten years that they had been together. He started dating her when she was only 17 and vowed to marry her one day; and he did just that two years later when she was 19. Yeah, she was young, but she swore up and down that she was ready for that kind of forever commitment with him. Jack was born eight months after they were married. Josh came three years later and then two years after that Jenna was born. Life had moved fast for the little family. He could see where she might have been a little bit overwhelmed with it all.

He sat down behind her on the bed and pulled her into his lap. Surprisingly enough, she didn't protest or even say anything, she just let him wrap his arms around her and hold her tight. He looked over her shoulder at the photo album, smiling at the happy memories that had made together. He pushed a lock of dark hair off of her shoulder and started gently nibbling on her right shoulder. Again, she didn't protest. She set the book on the floor and turned herself around so she was now straddling his lap. "You did come..." she whispered as her blue eyes searched his for a reason why.

"You asked me to. You know I would do anything for you, Emmy Sue. All you've ever had to do was ask..." he whispered back as he leaned down to kiss her sweet mouth. She kissed him back as desperate as he had just kissed her.

She lifted his t-shirt off of him and started to go to work on his neck; she knew damn well that if her gentle nips made it up to his earlobe, he would be a goner. His fingers went to work unzipping her dress and lifting the skimpy fabric over her head and throwing it on the floor, leaving her straddling his lap in nothing but her red panties. He ached for her right now. Very gently he pushed her off of his lap and had her lay down while he hovered over her, placing light kisses and bites all over chest and he was working his way down to her stomach. She ran her fingers through his hair and let out a big sigh as his teeth made contact with the waistband of her panties and he pulled them off of her and down her legs by using his teeth. He discarded the panties on the floor and took a brief moment to take her all in; she was still long and lean, curvy in all the right places. Having three kids had made her hips a little bit wider than when they were first married, but he didn't care. Very lightly he fingered her butterfly tattoo on her right hip before he bent down and gently bit the skin near it, causing her to involuntarily buck her hips at him. He sat up and smiled down at her; she was very slowly trying to unbutton his jeans to get what she wanted from him.

He helped her fumbling fingers and took his pants off; her hands rested on the waistband of his boxer shorts, pulling gently. Punk leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Do you want me, Emmy Sue?"

She nodded and pulled him down for a kiss. Punk broke the kiss and gently pushed her thighs apart and settled in between them. Leaning down by her ear one more time before he pushed his way inside, he whispered, "Still love me?" He could have just thought he had heard her, but maybe she really did say it. He swore as he entered her, she whispered back, "Never stopped loving you, Phil..."


	5. Chapter 5

**-5-**

"Emmy..." Phil whispered into her ear, "I'm gonna lose it..." he breathed heavily in her ear before he gave one last long hard thrust and emptied his seed into her with a loud growl. She dug her nails into his back and wrapped her long legs even tighter around his waist as he growled, "I fucking love you so much, baby," in her ear. The room was spinning for Emma; the effects of the all of the alcohol she had drank tonight were beginning to wear her down. She wanted to push her husband off of her and go to sleep. She knew she was being a bitch by thinking like that; but she really just wanted to pass out right now.

Punk stayed on top of her, trying to catch his breath. Sex with Emma was always amazing; she gave as hard as she received; and he loved giving it to her. After laying on top of her and absentmindedly kissing her neck and her shoulders, he finally rolled off of her and tried to pull her close to his chest like he used to after a long hard love making session. Those moments they spent together, sweaty, out of breath and high on love were the happier times during their marriage. She used to be able to not get enough of him; craving his touch, begging for it, crying when he had to leave to head out on the road for a show. Things, apparently have changed because right now, instead of snuggling up to her husband's chest and enjoying the afterglow with him, Emma had other ideas right now. She moved away from him and covered herself up with a blanket.

"If you're leaving, make sure you lock the door behind you," she mumbled before she curled up and closed her eyes. Phil looked at her in shock and mild disgust. Did his wife seriously just tell him to lock the door when he left? Why did she have to be such a bitch? In fact, when did she become such a tramp? Who the hell was this new Emma? He had no idea, but he knew he sure didn't fucking like it one bit, and he was about to let her know that.

"Are you fucking serious, Em? We just got done making love for the first time in like seven months and you're telling me to leave?"

Emma groaned from underneath the blanket; why was he choosing right now to be difficult? "It was just sex, Phil. Besides, I'm not asking you to stay, you can go home if you want. I don't want you to feel like you're supposed to stay here and pretend like you care. I'm drunk and I want to sleep."

"This is my home, Emma. I'm **supposed** to sleep next to my wife after I make love to her. She's not supposed to kick me out like I was some bad one night stand! What the hell did I do so wrong that made you stop loving me? Huh? What happened that made you so fucking unhappy with me?" he asked, raising his voice as he made her sit up and pay attention to him. "You used to be so happy with me? What the fuck happened? Oh, and by the way, yeah, I still care for you, you're my wife, I fucking love you. Even though right now, you're making that real hard to do, Emma!"

"Stop yelling at me," she said softly as she tried to lay down and go back to sleep.

"No, Em. You're not going to sleep. Not until you tell me why you got drunk, called me up at three in morning, asked me to drive over here, had sex with me, and now you want me to leave. Tell me, Emma Sue. Tell me what the hell is wrong with you? Why are being such a bitch!"

Emma's mouth dropped open; they had had horrible fights before, but he had never called her a bitch like he did right now. Her husband was seething with anger. His hazel eyes were ablaze with hate right now; he was biting his bottom lip, pulling at his lip ring as he stared her down. She wasn't scared of him; she knew he would never lay a hand on her, no matter how far she pushed him.

"Get out," she said softly as she turned from him and laid on her side.

"No."

"Fine. Stay. I don't care," she said through gritted teeth.

Phil smirked; he should head back to his apartment, he left the kids in the care of Scott; and he knew damn well if the kids woke up and realized that only Scott was there to take care of them, there would be chaos and his apartment would be trashed within fifteen minutes.. But another part of him, the part that wanted to grate on his wife's nerves the way she got on his, wanted desperately to stay and see how far he could push her tonight. He laid down and crawled under the blanket with Emma, wrapping an arm around her slender waist and throwing a leg over hers, he snuggled up to her back and kissed the back of her neck. He felt her stiffen up. "What's the matter? Just a few minutes ago, you were letting me touch you everywhere," he whispered in her ear.

"Go to sleep or leave, Phil."

"I love it when you're feisty and bitchy, Emmy. Turns me on. Maybe if you keep it up, I'll be ready for round two in about half an hour. Lucky girl," he murmured as he continued kissing the back of her neck. "You could get the greatest sex of your life twice in one night. We haven't done that since before Jenna was born."

"Go to sleep or leave, Phil."

"You already said that, babe."

Emma let out a little scream of frustration and flipped over so she was facing her husband; Phil smiled. "Hey, babe..." he whispered as he pushed her bangs out of her face and leaned over to kiss her. She pushed him away before his lips could meet hers.

"Why are we doing this?"

"Why are we doing what, Emmy? Why am I here? Why are we fighting right now? I think we need to answer other questions before we dive into a deep conversation like that. Maybe we should start at the beginning. Why did you kick me out of my house? Let's start there, shall we?" Phil smirked as he sat up and crossed him arms across his chest; he was looking for an argument right now. "Let's figure out why one day, I come home from being on the road for two weeks, and you just all of the sudden decided that you didn't love me anymore and that you wanted out. Let's fucking talk about that."

Emma rolled her eyes at Phil. "You know, Em, you should stop rolling your eyes at me like that. Turns me on," he growled as he leaned in to kiss her. Once again, she moved before his lips could meet hers.

"Stop, Phil. This was obviously a mistake."

His mouth dropped in mock shock. "A mistake? A husband and wife making love is a mistake? No. What the mistake was, was me accepting the fact that you've been acting like a bitch for the last seven months and letting you get away with it without an explanation—**that** was a mistake, darling."

Emma grabbed her pillow and jumped off the bed, intending to either head downstairs to the couch or to the guest bedroom when Phil caught her arm before she could leave. "Stay," he said softly, as she pulled away from him and pulled a t-shirt over herself. "Please stay, Emmy," he asked again as he put his hand on her arm again.

She shook her head and shrugged him off of her and headed to the guest bedroom. It was a mistake calling him tonight; she should have just went to bed and passed out.

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Phil watched her walk away. He glanced over at the alarm clock next to the bed; it was almost 6:00. The kids wouldn't be up for another three hours, but he should probably still head back to that shitty apartment in case they had woken up after he left and had now hog tied Scott to a chair or something.

Without saying goodbye to Emma, he got dressed and headed downstairs. After turning off all of the lights, he locked the front door behind him and headed back across town. He would just have to deal with her another time; he had to get back to his kids right now.

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It was almost 6:30 by the time he got home. He quietly unlocked the door and let himself in; he smiled when he saw Scott and Jenna sitting on the couch together watching Spongebob. Jenna had her head in Scott's lap but sat up with a big smile on her cute little face when she saw her dad come in the door.

"Hi daddy!" she said gleefully.

"Well, hi Jenners. What are you doing up?" he asked as he took off his shoes and came into the living room. Punk was dead tired, but at the same time he was too wound up to sleep. He hated times like this.

"Watching Spongebob with Uncle Scott," she said as she came over to the chair he was sitting in and crawled up in his lap, snuggling close. He missed mornings like this.

"Why are you up so early?" he whispered as he played with her hair.

She shrugged her little shoulders, "Wanted to watch Spongebob." Phil nodded; that was a good reason. For a three year old.

Jenna jumped off Punk's lap and headed towards her bedroom to grab her blanket and stuffed penguin. As soon as she was out of earshot, Scott asked about Punk's night. "So...how did it go with Emma?'

Punk shrugged. "All right. We had sex then she told me to leave."

"She did what?"

"She told me to leave. In fact, she said, lock the door behind you when you leave, then she tried to roll over and pass out."

"What a bitch..." Scott mumbled.

"I know. But she's my bitch of a wife. I have to figure out why she's acting like this. She was never like this before, ya know? I guess, I don't know. Sometime after the last kid was born she started acting real funny, but I was just starting to get over in the WWE and I didn't have time to sit at home with her and figure it out. Maybe I should have. I still remember the girl who wore those black boots and had pink streaks in her hair and was all right with staying up all night talking smart and laughing. And now? Now, she's wearing high heels, getting her nails and hair done every week and wearing short red dresses. That's not my wife. And she's a bitch. Things like that, make me think she's cheating on me."

Scott nodded. "I remember. She used to be a pretty cool chick, but man, lately, I can't be in the same room with her without wanting to drop kick her. Know what I mean?"

"Yep. I tried to pick a fight with her before I left to try and figure out why she's being such a raging bitch, and you know what she said? All she said was 'get out'. She was so drunk she didn't even want to fight with me. Now, you know when she don't want to fight that there's something wrong with her. She never drank this much before. True, she don't want to be straight edge like me, but she never drank this much. You should have seen her, man. She reeked like a bottle of rum and could barely keep her eyes open when we were done. That's not my Emmy."

"Punk. I think it might be time to just let this go. Maybe she just really don't want to be married to you anymore."

Punk shook his head. "Nope, not giving up. She promised me forever and a day, and I'm holding her to it."


	6. Chapter 6

**-6-**

Later that morning, Emma woke up in the guest room with a pounding headache, wearing only a t-shirt. Memories of what happened a few hours earlier came rushing back and she let out a low groan of frustration. Why did she call Phil when she got home? Why did she invite him over? Why did she have sex with him? Why was she straying from the plan of getting divorced from him so she could live her own life as something other than 'Punk's wife'? Why did he infuriate her so much that it took all of her strength not to throw him on the floor and make crazy and hot love to him? Why was she such a bitch?

Moving very slowly, she made her way back into her bedroom to grab something to wear today and then headed back down the hallway to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the day. Not that she really had anything to do today; the kids were with their dad until tomorrow night. She smiled a little as she thought about how it was almost noon and they were probably still in their pajamas watching cartoons. Phil was the fun parent; Emma was the one that had to enforce the rules and dole out time outs and groundings. Phil got to see the world, traveling with his job; Emma got to stay home and help Jack with his math homework, work on printing letters with Josh, and played Barbies with Jenna all day.

They had struggled with money, barely able to pay the bills, when they first got married. But once Phil hit the big times, there was money to spend. He tried so hard to make her happy, gave her full control of the checkbook, but what he didn't realize was that money wasn't going to make her happy. She wanted him. She wanted him home every night like he was when he wrestled for the indies. Once he hit the big times, he was gone for days at a time and Emma was alone at night with three little kids. There wasn't ever any time for Emma to find out who she was; she was too busy raising babies. One day she just snapped and threw their perfect little world into a whirlwind and said enough was enough and filed for divorce. She thought for sure that Phil would call her bluff and realize how isolated and lonely she had been feeling, instead he gave into her and just accepted that she needed time away from him and moved out. So now, not only was Emma alone every night, the nights that Phil was in Chicago, he spent them away from her on the other side of the city. Emma was still alone.

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"Daddy, I'm bored!," Josh whined at Phil. He looked up from where he was sitting on the floor, helping Jack with his science homework and sighed. Of course the kids were bored. It was a Saturday morning and they were spending it at their dad's shitty apartment. All of their cool toys and satellite TV were at their mom's house. It was almost noon and Saturday morning cartoons were over, and Scott had run out of amusing stories to tell them. He looked over at his best friend who looked like he was having a serious tea party discussion with Jenna and her penguin.

"What do you want to do, boy?" he asked as he reread the answer Jack had written down for question number three. When did third grade science get so difficult?

"I don't know. I'm bored. I want to go home and ride my bike," he said as he rocked back and forth in the recliner, starting to get on his dad's nerves with the constant squeaking of the chair.

"We're not going home; you're spending the weekend with me. I haven't seen you guys in a long time," he said quietly, remembering to keep his temper in check when Josh complained about having to be here. Josh loved spending time with his dad, but he secretly wished that he could be spending time with dad at home; where he belonged. Josh was having a hard time dealing with his mom and dad's separation; Jack had tried to explain to him that mom and dad were just spending some time apart until they could learn to stop fighting all the time. But to a five year old, that made no sense whatsoever.

"I want to go ride my bike!" he said with a little bit of frustration in his voice.

"And I said no. You and your brother and sister are spending time with me!" Phil said as he raised his voice.

"Punk..." Scott said with a warning tone from the other side of the room. He knew that Punk had a temper, but he was always good with keeping it in check around the kids. He also knew that his friend was beyond frustrated with Emma right now and how she had treated him earlier this morning and that he still hadn't slept.

Punk let out a big sigh. "All right. Go get dressed and we'll go over to your mom's house and pick up your bikes."

"Daddy! Can we get my trikey?" Jenna piped up from her impromptu tea party.

"Of course." Punk had to laugh as he watched his daughter do a spur of the moment happy dance and raced down the hall to her room to get dressed.

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"Um, Punk, I don't think that matches..." Scott said with a confused look on his face as he watched Jenna twirl around the room in a red t-shirt and a pink skirt over a pair of purple pants. She topped off the ensemble with a pair of sparkly silver shoes.

"I think she looks fine," Punk replied as he watched his youngest dance around the room. He gave Jenna the choice of what to wear today, and that's what she picked out. "Jenners, come here so we I can comb your hair."

"Hmmmm. No, I don't want to comb my hair today," she said sweetly as she continued to twirl around the small living room.

Punk shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever, I guess. Looks fine to me. Ready to go, guys?"

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After dropping Scott off at his apartment, they headed over to the house to pick up the bikes and some of the kids' toys. He knew that he could just buy the kids new bikes to keep at his place, but he didn't want to even attempt to venture into a store with three bored kids—there would be chaos. Besides, he wanted to see Emma and see if his words to her early this morning had any affect on her whatsoever or if she was still intent on being a full blown bitch.

He was starting to get worried; their court ordered separation was going to be over in the next two weeks. After that, they would decide on who gets what, since he didn't bother signing a prenuptial agreement with her, and then they would visit family court to see who got custody of the kids. Punk didn't want it to come down to that; he wanted to try like hell to figure out what was the matter with her and what he could do to hold on to her. He really did love her, he didn't want anyone else, he only wanted his Emmy Sue and the life they had started together eight years ago.

He pulled into the driveway and shut the car off. He let the boys finish the argument they were having over something. He looked in the mirror and saw his youngest humming to herself and swinging her legs back and forth in her booster seat. He loved that little girl and how she could completely tune out everything around her and be oblivious to the loud argument her brothers were having.

"Ready kids?" he asked as he leaned over the seat to unbuckle Josh and Jenna. Jack was the oldest and therefore had front seat privileges, which was apparently why him and Josh were arguing right now. Shaking his head and not wanting to get into the middle of their squabble he opened the back door and lifted Jenna out of her booster seat; she immediately wrapped her little arms around Punk's neck and hugged him tight. This was something that he missed everyday when he was on the road.

Seeing that Emma's car was still in the driveway, he wondered if she was actually awake. She had been in pretty rough shape when he left this morning. It wouldn't surprise him at all if she was still in bed with the shades drawn. Not bothering to knock, he just unlocked the front door with his key and walked inside with the kids. A small smirk came onto Punk's face when he heard music coming from the kitchen. Right away he recognized the song and knew he had to go watch Emma. "Hey, Jack? Why don't you bring the little ones upstairs for a few minutes while I talk to your mom?"

Jack, being the obedient little boy that he was, nodded and took his siblings upstairs without a fuss. Punk smiled as he watched his oldest lead Josh and Jenna upstairs. Now he could focus on Emma

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Punk watched as Emma swayed back and forth; he took her all in from her red tank top to her blue denim cut off shorts, she was barefoot and her toes were painted a bright red. He took in her long tan legs and her shapely backside. Her long brown hair was pulled up into a messy knot on top of her head, which gave him a perfect view of the pink butterfly tattoo on the back of her neck. In addition to the pink butterfly on her neck and the blue one on her right hip, she also had butterflies in various colors on her lower back and on her left shoulder. She shared his love for tattoos but only wanted butterflies.

_**Baby when I think about you, I think about love**_

_**Darling I don't live without you and your love**_

_**If I had those golden dreams of my yesterday**_

_**I would wrap you In their heaven but they lay dying on the way**_

_**Feel like makin ...feel like makin love, feel like makin love**_

_**Feel like makin...feel like makin love to you**_

She had the radio on so loud that she had no idea that him or the kids were there right now. He watched with lustful eyes as her hips swayed back and forth in time to the music. He listened to her softly sing along with the radio. More than anything right now he wanted to walk up behind her and grab those hips and pull him close to her. Seeing that he had nothing else to lose, he slowly and quietly started walking into the kitchen. What's the worse she could do to him? Scream and slap him away? She already kicked him out of his own house, filed for divorce and told him that she hated him every chance she got.

She was still swaying those beautiful hips back and forth as she washed the dishes. Very slowly he placed his hands on her hips and moved along with her. She instantly stiffened up and opened her mouth to scream, but Punk whispered in her ear before she could get the scream out. "It's just me..." She relaxed a little and allowed him to keep his hands on her hips. Punk couldn't believe his luck, maybe after their argument this morning, she was starting to give in; but knowing Emma like he did, he knew it wasn't likely.

_**Baby If I think about you I think about love**_

_**Darling If I live without I live without love**_

_**If I, I had the sun and moon and they were shining**_

_**I would give you both night and day love satisfying**_

_**Feel like makin ...feel like makin love, feel like makin love**_

_**Feel like makin...feel like makin love to you**_

The song faded out on the radio and she dried her hands off on a dish towel and turned to face him. He moved his hands from hips to the counter next to her, holding her in place. She wasn't going anywhere.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quietly at first. Then a look of panic washed over her face. "Is there something wrong with one of the kids?"

"No, no no. Everyone is fine. We just came over to get their bikes. Josh claims he's bored. I don't blame him; it is pretty boring there," he replied with his hands still on either side of her. He was shocked that she made no attempt to move away from him. Maybe he really did get through to her this morning.

"Oh. Ok. Make sure I see the kids before you take off then," she said as she tried to move away from him. "Move," she said softly when she realized that he wasn't going to let her go this easily. She thought she had made it clear that this conversation was over.

Punk shook his head. "We need to talk Emmy. We need to talk about what happened this morning and we need to talk about us."

"There isn't anything to talk about, Phil. This morning was a mistake-"

"Why do you keep saying that? I have never, ever thought of making love to you to be a mistake."

"Phil..."

"No, Emmy, we need to talk. You've been avoiding this for almost six months now. Our separation is over in two weeks and then it's over. Final. All done. There is no more Phil and Emma Brooks. It will just be another broken home."

"Is this why you want to stay together, Phil? So the kids aren't another statistic in the books? So you don't have to walk around saying that you're a divorcee? You are unbelievable. Once again, you've turned this into something about you!"

"That's where you're wrong, babe. This isn't just about **me** or just about **you**. It's about the life and family we started together eight years ago, and now you just want to throw it all away!"

Emma shook her head and went to move away from him, but he still had his hands holding her in place.

"You're not going anywhere, Em. We need to talk about this. I need to understand why you want out. I've been waiting six months for an explanation and I still haven't got one."

"You wouldn't understand..." she trailed off as she stared at the kitchen floor.

"Try me. How do you know I wouldn't understand? Huh? What's the matter, Emmy Sue? Is it something I can help you fix?" he tentatively removed one hand from beside her and brought it up to her face to brush her bangs out of her eyes. 'She's got the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen,' he thought to himself as she gazed back at him.

"I don't want to talk about it..." she said as she moved his hand from her face and took this as an opportunity to move away from him. Unfortunately for Emma, Punk was a lot faster than she was and he caught her around the waist before she could get away. He gently led her over to a kitchen chair and made her sit down across from him.

"Spill it, Em," he said softly as he sat down.

Emma shook her head. "I...I..." she stuttered as tears started to well up in her eyes. She couldn't do it; she couldn't tell her the reason she wanted out of their marriage was because she lost who she was. If she told him that, he would be right. She was a selfish bitch who only care about herself.

Punk watched in amazement as Emma started crying. She laid her head down on the table and let the tears flow. Without thinking twice about it, he was by her side, with an arm around her shoulders as he pulled her close. "Hey...I didn't mean to make you cry, Em. I just wanted to know what was wrong. Why are we doing this to ourselves? I love you, a lot. I love you more than one person should probably love another. And I remember at one time you loved me that much too. What happened?" he was murmuring in her ear.

"Phil..." she whispered as she let him hug her tighter.

"Emmy, ya got to talk to me. What's going on? You aren't acting like the same girl that I married."

Being reminded that he still expected her to be the same person after eight years of marriage snapped her out of whatever woe is me moment she was having. She pulled away from him and stood up, walked back over to the sink to finish the dishes.

"So that's it? You're gonna act like you're gonna **finally** tell me what's wrong with you, cry, let me hug you and then just walk away from me? Wow, Emma, just wow," he said sadly as he got up from the table and headed upstairs to see if the kids were ready to go.

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"Jenna, you know we can't do that. They don't get along. You don't want to listen to them argue all night do you?" Jack was desperately trying to reason with his little sister about a brilliant idea she had. But Jenna was only three and didn't understand what was going on with their parents anymore than Josh did.

"But I want to see mommy and daddy tonight!" she pouted.

"Me too, but it's not going to happen. Mom won't want to be around dad."

Phil had stopped by the door of Jenna's bedroom, listening in on the conversation the siblings were having with each other. Pushing the partially closed door open all the way he walked in and sat down on the floor with the kids. "What's going on? What does Jenna want?" he asked his oldest.

Jack sighed. "She wants to stay here with mom, but she wants you to stay here too."

"Hmmm. Yeah, mom's not too happy with me right now. How about we go pick up Uncle Scott and go the Lincoln Zoo or something, honey?" he asked Jenna.

"No. I want to stay here with you **and** mommy!" she said as her blue eyes started to fill up with tears. Punk knew his little one was about ten seconds away from a major meltdown.

"All right, all right. Don't cry. Let's go downstairs and see if mommy wants to hang out with us tonight." Punk had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Josh jumped up and ran downstairs to find his mom..

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"But, mama! We want you to come with us!" Josh was whining at Emma.

"I know, sweetheart, but I don't think it's a good idea. This is supposed to be your special time with dad," Emma tried to reason with her middle son. "Daddy's going to go back on the road next week and you want to be sure to spend all the time you can with him."

"No! I don't like this anymore! I don't like it that dad doesn't live with us anymore! I don't like it when you make us go to Grandma Evelyn's all the time! I want daddy to live here with us! I don't want you to yell at him anymore!" Josh was screaming and crying at the same time. Emma didn't know what to do, so she just pulled the little dark haired boy into her lap and let him cry on her shoulder. If she didn't feel like a total bitch before, she sure felt like it now.

Punk heard Josh screaming in the kitchen and rushed in to see Josh bawling his little hazel eyes out in Emma's lap. "What's wrong?" he asked softly as he came over and knelt beside Emma. Josh looked up and wiped the tears from his little face.

"I want you to live here with us again, daddy. We miss you..." he said as he buried his face back into Emma's shoulder.

Emma had a look of shock on her face; like it had finally hit her what her behavior was doing to her children. "I'm sorry, Joshy," she mumbled into his neck, rocking the little boy back and forth.

"Em..." Punk said quietly as he stood up and held out his arms for Josh. Emma nodded and gave the sobbing boy to his father. Punk took him into the living room to try and console him. Emma looked around the kitchen and saw that her other two children had come in and had seen the whole scene.

"Mom..." Jack started to say.

Emma was still in shock at the incident that had just happened. What did she do? What had she been doing to these kids? Was she really that selfish?

"Um. Me and Jenna and Josh were thinking that, um, maybe you'd like to hang out with us and dad tonight?" he asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Without thinking about it, she nodded in agreement. She really did love her kids, and at one point in time, Phil had made her so happy. But what would she have to give up in order to keep them?


	7. Chapter 7

**-7-**

Out in the living room, Punk sat down on the couch and set Josh down next to him. "What's the matter, little man? What's got you so mad right now?" Punk asked softly.

"I want you to live here with me, and Jack and Jenna and mommy. I don't want you to live away from us anymore," Josh said as he tried to stop crying.

"I know, buddy. But me and mom are going through some tough times right now. I miss you guys too."

"Do you miss mommy?"

Punk smiled. "Yeah, I miss mom too. I gotta be honest with you though, buddy. Me and your mom might not ever live together again, but that doesn't mean that we don't love you or Jack or Jenna any less. It just means that there's gonna be some changes, and you gotta be a big boy and just go with the flow, buddy. Understand?" Punk asked softly.

Josh nodded. "I guess so. But I still don't like it when you're gone all the time and I don't like it when mom has her friends over."

Punk cocked an eyebrow at that last thing his son had said. Was Emma sleeping with someone else? "What kind of 'friends' does mom have over?" he asked cautiously, not sure if he should drag his five year old into him and Emma's drama.

"Um. Amber and Kimberly. I don't like them; when they come over mom makes us go to bed early."

Punk let out a sigh of relief; at least she wasn't sleeping around on him.

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Fifteen minutes later, Punk had calmed down little Josh. Emma had come out into the living room with Jack and Jenna. Jenna sat down next to her dad on the couch while Jack sat on the recliner with his mom.

"What's going on? Are we all done crying?" Punk asked quietly to no one in particular. Everyone in the room nodded; including Jenna.

"Mom said she'd hang out with us tonight," Jack said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Punk looked at his wife in shock, "Really?" he said softly. Emma just nodded. "Well, kids. What do you want to do today then?"

"I want to watch Toy Story!" little Jenna piped up as the two older boys groaned. Toy Story was Jenna's favorite movie and they've seen it at least a hundred times in the last month.

"We already saw that, Jenna!" Josh grumbled as he snuggled closer to his dad.

"But I **love** that movie!" Jenna pouted.

"What do you want to do, boy?" Punk asked.

Josh shrugged his little shoulders, "I don't know."

Punk sighed. "Well. Guess we could all sit on the couch and do a whole lot of 'I don't know'," Phil said sarcastically, which got a smile out of Jack.

"Jack, my son. What do you want to do tonight?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I don't care; I'll do whatever," he mumbled.

"Such exciting children I have," Punk said as he rolled his eyes. "How about this. We'll do mom's favorite thing. How about we go shopping? We haven't done that for a long time. I bet mommy needs something new and pretty. How about it Em, want to go shopping?" he asked with a hopeful look on his face. She was a little wary of accepting his offer to go shopping; normally he didn't like to venture out in crowded malls where he would more than likely get recognized and stopped for autographs. She also knew that he found it irritating to be the one carrying her shopping bags.

"Sure," she said quietly. She looked down at what she was wearing; unless she wanted a bunch of other guys eye humping her, throwing Phil into a jealous rage, she better go put some more clothes on. "I'm going to go upstairs and change. Jenna, let's go find something else for you to wear."

"But mommy! I like this outfit! Daddy let me pick it out!" she said as her bottom lip trembled, forecasting an upcoming meltdown if her mom made her change her clothes.

"Emma, really, she looks fine. She's three," Phil said softly.

Not wanting to have to deal with a meltdown from Jenna, Emma just sighed, "Fine."

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Emma headed upstairs and stood in front of her closet, lost in her own thoughts. What the hell had happened in the last two days? For the past six months, her and Phil had been at each others throats, screaming for blood. But in the span of not even forty eight hours, he's turned her world upside down again. They had sex last night. Sex! They hadn't had sex in over seven months. What the hell was wrong with her? She was finally getting over that and had re-convinced herself that she was doing the right thing by divorcing him, when Josh had a meltdown in the kitchen; then it hit her. It hit her how big of a bitch she really had been lately and how it was affecting her kids. Now, she was getting dressed so she could spend the afternoon at a shopping mall with the kids and Phil? It was fucked up. Everything was all fucked up. Couples who are going through a divorce don't hang out together at the mall.

He was going to get the kids all riled up for the next week while he was in Chicago, and then he would take off for the road and leave them behind; it would break their little hearts and Emma would be the only person there to pick up the pieces.

She slowly turned around when she heard the bedroom door open and shut quietly. Phil leaned against the door, "Hey," he said softly as he crossed the room and stood next to her in front of the closet. "Are you all right?" he asked as he tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him and shook her head.

"Em-"

"I don't want to talk about it, Phil. I'm going to get dressed, go to the mall with you and the kids today, wait for you to leave next week, console the kids, and then wait the rest of this separation period out," she said softly as she pulled a pair of old blue jeans with holes in the knees out of the closet and a black AC/DC t-shirt.

"We don't have to do this, Emmy. We can stop the proceedings whenever we want. I don't want a divorce; I want you," he whispered as she stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her back towards him. "I still love you, Emmy. And I know you have to still love me at least a little bit. Otherwise you wouldn't let me keep touching you." He placed a soft kiss on her neck as she tried to pull away from him. "Please, Emmy. Don't give up on me. Whatever is wrong, tell me, so I can fix it. I don't want to lose you. I need you. I've always needed you."

She managed to pull away from him, tears shining in her blue eyes. "What about what I need, Phil?"

"What do you need, Emma? Tell me. For God's sake, just tell me what you need, and I'll do it for you. Anything you want; just don't leave me," he whispered like a desperate man.

"I need..." she stopped. She couldn't do this. Not now. It would start a fight between them and then the afternoon activity with the kids would be ruined and she couldn't bear to disappoint Josh like that right now. She let out a big sigh. "I know we need to talk. We should have talked a long time ago. But, not right now. Let's just pretend that everything's fine right now."

"But it's not fine. You shouldn't lie to yourself like this, Emmy."

"I know..."

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"Do you want it?" Punk murmured in her ear, causing a tingle to run up and down her spine with having his hot breath so close to her ear. They were in a jewelery store looking at necklaces. Emma was currently looking at a beautiful silver necklace with a thin chain and a silver butterfly with diamonds on the wings. She didn't want to go in there, he made her. And surprisingly enough, the kids were sitting in the chairs being good. What was it about Phil that made them behave so well for him, Emma wondered to herself.

"If you want it, I'll get it for you," he whispered again.

She turned to look at him. "Why do I get the feeling if you buy this for me, I'll 'owe you' in some way shape or form," she said quietly.

Punk sighed. "I thought we were getting along today. Em. Don't be difficult."

"I'm only out here with you today for the kids. Don't read too much into this." And just like that, Emma did a 360 and turned back into a raging bitch.

"You are the most difficult woman I have ever met Emma, you know that?" he said quietly in her ear while he tried like hell to keep his temper in check. "You are damn lucky that I love you so much. I want to buy this for you even though you've been a raging bitch lately and want to divorce me. When are you going to get it through your head that **I love you**!"

"Stop. You're going to end up making a scene, Phil."

"I don't care."

Emma just rolled her eyes at him. "Come on kids. Let's go to the video store and pick out some movies," she said as she took Jenna's hand.

The trip to the mall didn't last very long. The kids begged for quarters for the arcade and Emma and Jenna watched in amusement as the boys played 'Whack a Mole' with their dad three times in a row. Before they left the arcade they counted up the tickets they had won and had enough for each of the kids to get a kazoo. Phil counted the tickets he had left over and picked out a cheap little ring. He walked over to Emma and slipped in onto her pinky finger. "Remember when I did this for real?" was all he whispered in her ear before he walked away, leaving her to demand herself not to cry as memories of their impromptu wedding ceremony eight years earlier quickly flashed through her mind.

Punk got stopped by autograph seekers throughout the day. Normally he would have just kept walking, but he had his kids with so he stopped and was polite. He refused, however, to let anyone take pictures of him and the kids or Emma. He had to draw the line somewhere.

The trip to the mall killed a few hours. Now the Brooks family was on their way to a video store. While they were walking out to the car, Emma decided to finally speak up. "Phil. I know you want to act like nothing is wrong and to be a happy little family today for the kids, but you need to take it slower. We can't just jump back into being the smiley happy family-"

"Babe, we were never a happy smiley family," he said with a chuckle.

"What I mean, is we can't act like we did before...the divorce proceedings started. It isn't fair to the kids to get their little hopes up when we both know that this just isn't going to work out for us."

"Emma. It is going to work out for us. Have faith," he said before he got into the driver's seat.

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After a trying visit to the video store and to a nearby pizza parlor for dinner, they made it back home. Phil went into the living room to set up the DVD player while Emma went upstairs and got pillows and blankets for the couch. Before Phil hit it big in the WWE, this is how the little family spent a lot of their Saturday nights—curled up on the couch together with a blanket watching movie after movie.

Phil watched Emma come back down the stairs with the big down comforter from their bed and wondered if she was going to let him sit next to her. He sat down on the couch, with Josh on one side of him Jack sat down in the chair next to the couch. Emma came into the living room and glanced at the other empty chair for a minute and considered sitting there until Jenna piped up, "Mama, come sit on the couch with me and daddy!" Trying not to let out a sigh, Emma agreed and sat next to Phil on the couch.

"Hey, fancy meeting you here," he said softly as he started the movie.

"It's my couch."

"Hmm...**my** couch, babe."

"Well, this is my blanket," she said as she snuggled up closer to it.

"You need to learn to share, Emmy," he whispered as he pulled part of the blanket over him and threw an arm over her shoulders. He was shocked when she didn't push him away. 'Here's to the beginning of an interesting night,' he thought to himself.

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Halfway through the second time watching Toy Story, Jenna fell asleep. Emma felt her heart skip a beat when she watched Phil gently carry the little girl up to her bedroom. She glanced over at Josh who was also half asleep. "Do you want to go to bed, Joshy?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, I don't wanna wake up and then daddy's gone," he mumbled as his eyes kept fluttering shut.

Phil came back downstairs and sat on the couch next to Emma, pulling Josh closer to him. Jack sat down next to Emma and the four of them watched Spiderman. Not even ten minutes into the movie, Josh fell asleep. "Should I bring him upstairs?" Phil asked quietly, his eyes still glued to the screen.

Emma nodded and watched her estranged husband carry their middle son upstairs to his bedroom, leaving Jack and Emma alone downstairs for a few minutes. After an uncomfortable silence, Jack finally spoke up. "Mom? Do you think that you and dad will get back together?" he asked in a hushed voice.

She turned and looked at her oldest. "Why would you ask that?" she said curiously.

"I don't know. It just seems like you two are getting along tonight, that's all. I think it would be pretty cool if you didn't get divorced and dad moved back in here."

"I see," was all Emma said before Phil sat down next to her and the three of them continued watching the movie.

It was almost eleven o'clock before the movie was over. "Time for bed, Jack," Emma said as she stretched. Jack was never a child to complain when his mom asked him to do something. He hugged and said good-night to both of his parents and headed upstairs for bed, leaving Phil and Emma alone on the couch.

After a few minutes of silence and channel surfing, Phil finally said something to her. "Do you want me to stay tonight?" he asked quietly with his eyes still on the television.

Before she could fully process what he was asking her, her mouth opened up and she whispered, "I'd like that..."


	8. Chapter 8

**-8-**

"Really? This isn't one of your stupid mind games, Em?" Punk asked warily. He was nervous that she had actually said that she would like him to stay the night. He wondered if she had something else up her sleeve. He was actually glad that she said he could stay; he still hadn't been to bed yet and wasn't sure if he would be able to make the drive across town to his shitty apartment.

"No games. Just stay," she whispered as she looked down at her hands. She wasn't sure what was possessing her to ask him to stay; maybe the lonely nights alone without him were finally catching up with her, maybe she just wanted to feel his strong arms around her one more time before they finalized everything. Maybe she just didn't really know what she wanted. He was right; she was difficult.

Punk moved closer to her on the couch. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong? I think I deserve to know why we're doing this instead of me just blindly accepting the fact you don't love me anymore." Emma hung her head down and wiped some fallen tears from her face. "You do still love me, don't you, Em?" he asked softly as he pulled her closer to him and she rested her head on his chest.

"I don't want to talk about it right now. I want to sleep," she whispered as she untangled herself from Punk's arms and the comforter and started to head upstairs.

"Emma. I need to hear it. I need to hear that you still love me."

She sighed and stopped on the second step. "Phil, it's late and we're both tired. Can't you just take this for what it's worth right now? Come to bed," she said as she started back up the stairs.

Phil locked the front and back doors and shut the lights off downstairs before he headed upstairs. He wondered if she had thrown all his clothes out? Hopefully she left something in his dresser for him to sleep in tonight or to wear tomorrow morning.

He peeked into each of the kids' rooms before heading down the hall to the one he used to share with Emma. He smiled a little as he saw Jenna snuggled up with her penguin; she loved that damn thing. Uncle Scott had bought it for her when she turned one and she never lets it out of her sight. His boys were sound asleep too. He silently walked into Josh's room and covered the boy back up with his Cars blanket. He felt horrible for having to witness Josh's meltdown in the kitchen today. What him and Emma were putting the kids through wasn't right and he intended to try everything he could to make it right with Emma before she gave up for good.

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Emma had just changed into a pair of shorts, that left little to the imagination, and a black tank top when Punk came into the bedroom. A smile broke out onto his face when he saw that she had laid a pair of his pajama pants and a t-shirt of his on the bed. He was mildly surprised that she hadn't thrown all of his clothes out. She gave him a little smile and mumbled 'hey' when he came into the bedroom before she crawled into bed and pulled the blanket over her. She watched her estranged husband change out of his jeans and t-shirt into his pajamas. It amazed her that even after ten years together, three kids, and a pending divorce, that she still wanted him—meaning she still lusted after him. Maybe she should give this another try. Would he still want her though, if he knew the truth?

He crawled into bed with her, bending down to kiss her gently on the lips before he leaned over her and turned off the bedside lamp. In the dark, he smiled when he felt her hands on the small of his back, pulling him down for another kiss. He gladly obliged as he covered her mouth with his and fingered the strap of her tank top absentmindedly. He broke the kiss and whispered in her ear, "Emmy...My Emmy Sue..." before he started nibbling on her ear lobe, which made her let out a contented sigh and she started running her fingers through his short hair.

As the impromptu make-out session started to heat up as Punk's hands started to wander to the hem of her tank top. He paused long enough to give Emma the chance to put a stop to this. He was a little surprised when she actually did just that. "Phil, we should stop..." she mumbled into his neck.

"I don't wanna..." he mumbled back into her ear before moving his mouth down her neck.

She started to push him away. For a split second he was frustrated and was about to lay into her about being a tease, but then he saw the look on her face. He knew that look. "What's wrong," he asked as he moved away from her, taking her hand with him. "Talk to me, Em."

"Phil..." she started, but then stopped. "Why are we doing this?" she finally whispered.

"Why are we do what? Getting divorced?"

She nodded. "Do you know why I want a divorce?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "No, I've been trying to get you to tell me the reason reason for a long time, Em, and all I get from you is that 'you're done'. Whatever the hell that means. So tell me, Em. Enlighten me as to why you want to throw away ten years together, eight years of marriage, and three kids. Tell me," he said quietly, bracing himself to hear something horrible—like she had been cheating on him and one the kids wasn't his. That would kill him.

"I lost me," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. He just stared at her. What the hell did that mean?

"I don't understand. Please elaborate," he said as he moved around on the bed until he was sitting cross legged facing her. "How did you lose yourself?"

"Phil...I was only 19 when we got married; barely 19 mind you. And then Jack came along so quickly. I never had time to find...me," she finally said. "I've spent the last ten years supporting you in your dream anyway that I can; I've had three babies and stayed home with all of them. I kept that crappy apartment we had when we were first married spotless, then when we bought this house, I made it a home. I've spent at least five nights out of the week without you laying next to me. It just felt like...like all I was was just Punk's wife and that's all I was ever going to be," she finished as the words that she had been holding for so long finally came rushing out all at once. She was still looking down at the comforter, refusing to let her eyes meet his.

"What's wrong with being my wife?" he whispered. "Is it something I did?"

"No...It's just that I thought my life would have more meaning at 27 than it does right now...but that's not..." she stopped. She couldn't tell him the next part. There was more to Emma's drama than she wanted to let on; he was going to be pissed as hell when and if she told him the other reason she wanted to break up. He would threaten to take the kids from her and leave her with nothing.

"Emmy, what else happened," he asked cautiously. He knew her well enough to know that something else had happened. It wasn't just that she was feeling like her life had no meaning; there had to be something else.

She shook her head as tears fell down her cheeks. "Emma Sue. Tell me," he said with a little force in his voice as he lifted her chin up to look at him. "Tell me."

"I can't. You're going to hate me," she whispered. "I broke your trust. I broke our vows. Punk, I'm so sorry..." she whispered as she let out the sob that she was holding in. She called him Punk. She hasn't called him Punk in over a year.

"You called me Punk...Emmy, you do still love me, don't you?" he murmured as he tried to pull her closer to him, but stopped when it finally registered that she had said that she had broken his trust. "Emma Sue, tell me what happened? What do you mean you broke my trust?"

With tears running down her face, she took a deep breath and finally let out the secret that she had been holding in for the past three years."Jenna's not yours..." she said in a voice barely above a whisper. Then she waited. She waited for him to start screaming at her and throwing things. But instead he just moved away from her and sat down on the floor.

"Who," was all he said. Emma started crying harder when she thought about who Jenna's real father was. "Emma. Tell me **who **it was. Now."

Emma shook her head; she didn't want to tell him like this. She had wished a million times that it had never happened but it did. She tried so hard to push Phil away from her and the kids so that the break up and eventually the truth would be easier on him.

Suddenly he stood up and grabbed her by the wrist pushing her against the wall. Remembering to keep his temper in check, he leaned down by her ear and growled once more, "Who? Look me in the eyes and tell me who the fuck it was, Emma!"

Holding back a sob, she whispered. "Scott."

The look on Punk's face was a mixture of confusion, anger and shock. "Scott who?" he asked as he loosened the grip on her wrists. Surely, she couldn't mean-

"Colton."

Punk was silent for a few seconds while the name sank in. "You fucking bitch," he spat at her before he pushed her against the wall and started looking for his jeans. "I can't fucking believe you! How could you do this, Emma? He's my best friend! " he shouted.

"Phil, please. Keep your voice down, your going to wake the kids," Emma pleaded with him as she stayed against the wall; she knew it was the safest place right now.

"I don't give a fuck if I wake them up, Emma. They're eventually going to find out that their mom is a fucking whore! Why not tell them now?" he shouted at her as he pulled his shoes on and started towards her again.

"Tell me how it happened. I need to know," he said softly as he lifted her chin up so she was looking at him."

"Phil, I'm so sorry-"

He stopped her. "I don't want to hear how sorry you are right now. I need to hear how it happened and I need to know why it happened. If you want to have any chance of salvaging our relationship, you'll start talking. **Now.**"

Emma slumped to the floor and sat down, pulling her knees up to her chest. This was her worst nightmare coming true. All of the thoughts of 'I should have said no' weren't going to change what her and Scott did.

"You know what. I changed my mind. Let's have lover boy come over here and tell the story. Scotty's always good for a story," he spat at her as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed his friend's number. It was close to one in the morning, but knowing Scott, Punk knew that his friend was still awake.

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"Yeah?" Scott said as his eyes were still glued to the movie that was playing. Beth looked at him, annoyed that he was actually answering his phone at one in the morning when he was supposed to be spending time with her.

"Scott. It's Punk. Hey, I need you to come over to the house."

Scott was confused. "The house? I thought you had the kids at your place this weekend."

Punk let out a chuckle. "Plans changed. I'm with Emma right now. And your daughter."

Scott felt his stomach drop to the floor. Punk knew. "Shit," he mumbled, trying to quickly figure out a way to cover his tracks.

"Yeah, oh shit is right. You better get over here now and explain to me why you were sleeping with my wife, before I come over there and beat the holy hell out of you." And with that, Punk hung up the phone and tossed it on the bed. He turned his attention to Emma, who was still on the floor silently crying, and just glared at her.

"My best friend. My fucking best friend. How could you fucking do this?" he said quietly as he looked at the floor.

"Phil, I'm so sorry..." she mumbled.

"Yeah, you are sorry," he said as he grabbed his phone and walked out of the room.

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"Who was that?" Beth asked, "And why are you freaking out?" 

"That was Punk."

"Oh. Did him and the bitch have another fight?" She had never cared too much for Emma; she always thought that Punk could do better than her. But she had him trapped with three kids and she also had him wrapped around her little finger.

"No...Well, yeah I guess. Um. Punk found out about Jenna."

Beth's mouth dropped in shock; no one but Beth, Emma and Scott knew that Jenna was Scott's kid and not Punk's. "Holy shit."

"Yeah, holy shit is right. He wants me to come over there and explain why it happened," Scott said as he started pacing around his small living room. "He's gonna beat the shit out of me."

Beth nodded. "Yep, he sure is; what the hell are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I guess go over there and try to blame it all on Emma."

"But it wasn't all Emma's fault."

"I know that. You know that. She knows that. But Punk doesn't know that. She broke his trust; she had a baby with another man and didn't tell him until the kid was three years old. I think Emma is going to look worse than I am in this whole mess."

"I told you you were playing with fire when you started banging her," Beth said as she turned her attention back to the movie. "Maybe next time you'll listen to me."

Scott shot her a death glare before he grabbed his car keys and headed out the door. It was time to face the music.


	9. Chapter 9

**-9-**

Punk walked out of the bedroom he had shared with Emma for so many years with his head spinning, trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened. His wife of eight years just told him that his baby girl wasn't his; Jenna's real father was his best friend. Without thinking about it, he found himself standing the doorway of Jenna's room. Despite how angry he was right now, he found a small smile on his lips as he watched his little angel sleep. How could he have missed the signs? Emma had given him no reason to believe that Jenna wasn't his baby. He just assumed that they had finally had their little girl and she was going to be a carbon copy of her mother. He found himself looking at the girl he thought was his daughter for the last three years and tried to see if he could see any sign of Scott in her. The thought of Scott touching his precious Emma was enough to make Punk sick to his stomach. He had remind himself to keep his temper in check and to walk quietly out of the bedroom and head downstairs to wait for Scott to show up. If he knew what was good for him, he would show up and explain himself before Punk beating the holy hell out of him.

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Scott pulled up to Punk and Emma's house with a racing heart; he knew what he did with Emma was wrong and the end result of their on again off again affair was wrong too. But he loved that little girl. And he loved Emma too.

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"_Scott, we can't do this," Emma whispered breathlessly in his ear as he attacked her neck and ear with soft kisses."It's wrong."_

"_I know it's wrong, but it feels so fucking good," he mumbled as he lifted her hips and positioned himself to slide into her. "Shit, Em," he moaned in her ear as he started moving slowly, holding onto her hips so she moved with him. He bit her neck gently just as she let out a soft moan, "Scotty..." _

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With shaking hands, he closed the car door and started to walk up the sidewalk to the five bedroom house Punk had always promised that he would buy his beloved Emma one day; he always kept his promises to her. She was his whole world, which was why Scott felt horrible after he betrayed his best friend the first time. The second time, he didn't feel bad, he just gave into lust, the third time...It was a never ending vicious cycle with him and Emma.

It was well after 1:30 in the morning and the neighborhood was dark and quiet; everyone was asleep. Except for Punk. He was sitting on the front steps waiting for Scott. Even in the dark, Scott could feel Punk's eyes burning a hole a into him.

"You son of a bitch," Punk said softly as he Scott came up the front steps and stood in front of his best friend.

"Dude, I am so sorry..." Scott started to stutter.

"She was my wife. You were my best friend. How the fuck could you two do this to me," Punk asked quietly.

"I'm sorry-"

"Sorry? That seems to be something that you and Emma have in common. She's sorry. You're sorry. You know what? I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that I met and married Emma in the first place. And I'm sorry that I trusted you enough to be my best friend. How could you fucking do this to me, man?"

"It wasn't all me, Punk. It takes two."

"Yeah, I know it takes two, but I would have thought that at least one of you would have had the decency to stop it. For the past three years, I've thought that Jenna was mine. My baby girl. I love that little girl. And now I find out that she's not mine? Do you have any idea of how fucked up that is?" Punk was starting to raise his voice. "I was there when she was born. I was the first person to hold her after she was delivered. I fucking **named** her, Scott! I stayed up all night with Emma when Jenna had colic or a fever. Where the hell were you? Huh? Do you honestly think that I would just step aside and let you call yourself that little girl's father?"

The front door opened and shut quietly as Emma came outside. Scott had to force himself not to stare at her. She was still wearing those little shorts and a tank top. "Stop eye humping my wife, Colton," Punk growled as he caught his former best friend making eyes at Emma.

"Phil, stop. Calm down and come inside before you wake up the neighbors," Emma said quietly as she put a hand on his arm. He immediately shrugged her off and turned to glare at her.

"Calm down? Calm down? Be quiet? So I don't wake up the neighbors?" he started to shout. "What's the matter, Emma. Don't you want to the neighbors to know that you're a whore?" he continued to shout as he stared her down. "Should we go inside so I can yell in there and wake up the kids? Do you want the kids to know what a whore their mother is? Do you want them to know that their 'Uncle Scott' is a backstabbing asshole?" he shouted as he turned his glare to Scott. The two men stared at each other for a few seconds before Punk said, "Aw fuck it," and speared Scott of the front steps causing Emma to shriek in panic as she watched her husband and former lover tumble to the ground.

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Jack woke up when he heard his mom screaming outside. He sat up and looked around; the hallway was dark, there was no light coming from her bedroom. Where was she screaming? He slowly walked out of his bedroom and checked on Josh and Jenna; both were sound asleep. He peeked into his mom's room and didn't see her. Turning on the light by the staircase he headed downstairs. Where was mom? Then he heard his dad yelling. Great, he thought to himself, they're fighting again.

Jack followed the sound of their shouting to the front door. He slowly opened the door to see what all the yelling was about when his mouth dropped open in shock. His mom was standing outside barely wearing any clothes and she was crying and screaming at her dad...and Uncle Scott? They were rolling around on the ground fighting and cursing and yelling at each other. He had never seen his dad and Scott argue, much less throw punches at each other unless they were practicing. Something must have really made dad mad if he was taking swings at Uncle Scott.

His mom was still shrieking and his dad and Scott were still rolling around on the ground, so they had no idea that Jack was watching this all unfold. With horrified eyes, Jack watched as he dad hit Scott so hard in the mouth that blood started dripping from his lip. "You son of a bitch! I trusted you! I came to you and confided in you when my marriage started going south. And now I know why you acted like you didn't care. It's because **you** wanted Emma for yourself!" Phil shouted as he landed another punch into Scott's cheek. Scott let out a growl and stood back up.

"Maybe if you would have been home more than once a week, she wouldn't have come to me, Punk!" Scott shouted back as Punk turned to face Emma.

"You went to him! You whore! I might have been able to forgive you Emma if it had just happened once, but you a baby with him. And then you lied to **me **about Jenna. How could you do this! " Jack had heard enough.

"Dad! Scott! Mom! Stop it! Just stop it!" Jack shouted from the front door. All three adults turned to see the eight year old boy on the verge of tears.

"Jack, go back in the house," Punk said quietly as he continued to stare down Emma.

"Stop yelling at mom. She's not that horrible word you called her. If anyone is horrible, you are!" Jack shouted at his father as Punk turned to face his son with an astonished look on his face. "Grandma Evelyn was right. You are a worthless asshole!"

"Jack Ryan Brooks, I am your father, you do not speak to me that way," Punk said as he took a few steps closer to his oldest boy; his eyes glazed over with anger and frustration. Emma saw what was happening and immediately ran over and stood in front of Jack.

"Stop it right now, Phil. Don't even think about hurting our son," Emma said with a shaky voice.

"Our son? Are you sure, Emma? You turned out to be such a slut maybe I need to get paternity tests done on my boys too!" Phil shouted at her as he pushed her shoulder, sending Emma tumbling backwards. Before Phil knew what was happening he was grabbed from behind my Scott and taken down to the ground; Scott was wailing on Punk when the sound of police sirens suddenly started. The men looked up and saw a police car had pulled up into the driveway. This fight, was apparently over for the night.

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After the policeman left, Emma sat on the couch trying to get Jack to calm down. The poor boy had started sobbing when he watched the cop put his dad into handcuffs and put him in the back of the squad car. At first the cop wasn't going to take Phil in, but then he started running his mouth and had stepped over the line.

Scott sat in the recliner next to the couch and watched Emma try to console Jack. He felt horrible for what the kid had seen tonight; no kid should have to hear his father call his mother a whore.

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"_Scott, what we're doing in wrong, we have to stop," Emma said quietly as she pulled her dress back over her head and smooth the fabric down. Scott watched with lustful eyes as she put her stockings back on. He was going to reply to her, but he was too engrossed in watching the sheer fabric being slid up her long legs. He ached for right now and they had just gotten done with a heated love making session._

"_I know it's wrong. But I don't want to quit. I don't want to quit you, Emma. You should just leave Punk."_

_She threw back her head and laughed, "Leave Punk? Yeah right, like he would let that happen. I promised him forever and a day, and he always said that he would hold me to that." She shook her head. "I think it's just better if we stop seeing each other."_

_He stood up from the bed and stood behind her, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her back towards him. "What if I don't want to stop seeing you..." he murmured in her ear._

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"Mom, what's going to happen to dad?" Jack asked quietly as he laid his head against Emma's shoulder.

"I don't know. I'm sure that they'll let him out tomorrow or Monday morning after he calms down," she responded sadly. She never meant for this to happen to Phil. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this.

"Why was he so mad tonight? Why was he calling you those awful names? Why was he so mad at Scott? What did he mean when he talked about Jenna?" Jack's questions were rushing out of his mouth rapidly. He was so confused and he wanted answers. Emma didn't want to give him those answers.

Emma looked over at Scott for help; what was she supposed to tell Jack? "Honey, it's really late and we're going to get up early tomorrow morning to go to Grandma Evelyn's for a few days," Emma finally said.

"Are you coming to stay at Grandma's too or are you going to get dad out of jail?"

Emma sighed. "You and Josh and Jenna are going to go to Grandma's for a few days until your dad and I figure things out, all right?" she asked as she motioned for him to go to upstairs and go to bed.

"I guess," Jack said quietly as he started up the stairs. He stopped on the third step and turned around. "Can I ask one more question?"

Emma nodded. "Jenna is **my** sister, isn't she?" he asked with a worried look on his face.

Emma nodded. "Yes, she's your sister. Please go to bed, Jack," Emma whispered as she started to wipe tears from her face.

Scott waited until he was sure the boy had gone upstairs for sure before he moved from the chair and sat down next to Emma on the couch. "Em, I'm so sorry that it turned out like this," he whispered in her ear as he put his arm around her and pulled her close.

"It should have never happened, Scott. I should have just said no in the first place. But I didn't. So I should have just told Phil when I found out I was pregnant that the baby might not be his."

"Sweet pea, we can't change the past. I think, after tonight, he's not going to fight those divorce papers anymore."

Emma was silent for a minute. "I know. That's what I'm afraid of," she said sadly as she let the sob she had been holding in out as Scott squeezed her tighter, letting her cry on his shoulder. This wasn't the first time he had to comfort her because of Punk, and he was sure that it wasn't going to be the last.


	10. Chapter 10

**-10-**

Later that morning, around ten o'clock, Emma called her mom and told her what had happened over the weekend with Phil and the kids. Evelyn had no idea that Jenna wasn't Phil's biological child; she just assumed that he had fathered all of her grandchildren just to irritate her. She never forgave Phil for talking Emma into marrying him when she was so young; she never had a chance to experience life, never went to college like Evelyn had planned for her, never got to see the world. Her daughter was thrown into the role of the good housewife at the age of 19.

"What do you mean Phil is in jail?" Evelyn asked.

"Just what I said mom. He and Scott were fighting on the front lawn at 1:30 this morning, one of the neighbors called the police and the cop showed up. At first the cop wasn't going to take him in; he just wanted Phil to go inside and calm down, and he was going to do just that; but then the cop insinuated that Phil had been drinking and that he should be arrested for public drunkenness and that set him off. You know as well as I do that Phil has a hard time controlling his mouth once he's upset."

Evelyn sighed. "Emma Sue, I never understood why you married that man."

"I love him."

"Loved him," Evelyn corrected her daughter. She had been Emma's biggest supporter when her daughter said that she was intending to seek a divorce.

"No, mom. I love him. I still love him. I made some mistakes...but I love him. I promised him forever and a day, and well, it hasn't been forever yet, has it?"

"Emma, think about what you're saying. You have put those children through hell the last six months with this pending divorce; it is not fair to them to just decide that you changed your mind and that you want Phil back."

"Mom, you don't understand," Emma sighed in frustration.

"What don't I understand? Please, help me understand why all of the sudden you've changed your mind about what you were so intent on doing? From my recollection, you were fed up with being a housewife and you wanted to go to school and eventually find yourself a career. What changed? Did he say or do something to make you change your mind? Is he trying to buy you back with a bigger house or new clothes?" Evelyn knew about Phil's tendency to throw money at Emma when he wanted to get close to her. Hence, the five bedroom home, the brand new Pontiac Grand Am in the driveway, the new clothes...

"There's a lot about my relationship with Phil that you're not going to understand, mom. It was never fully about me not feeling like I didn't have a life of my own. That was part of it. But the other part was guilt and shame," she said quietly.

"What on earth would you have to feel guilty about, Emma? If anything, he should feel guilty for making you stay at home with the kids without anything of your own."

"Jenna's not Phil's," Emma finally blurted out.

Evelyn was in shock; did she just hear her daughter correctly. "Explain yourself young lady," was all that Evelyn could get out.

"I had an affair and it resulted in pregnancy."

"How could you do this? Didn't I raise you better than that? You know I am not a fan of Phil, never have been and never will, but to do **that** to him? Does Jenna have any idea?"

"No. And I don't think I'm going to tell her until she's much older, or if I even tell her at all. Her entire life she's thought that Phil was her dad and he absolutely adores that little girl. That's why he was fighting with Scott last night."

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Little did Emma know, Jack was sitting on the steps listening to his mom talk to Grandma Evelyn while she sat on the couch in the living room. He had heard what his mom had said about dad not being Jenna's dad too, and was confused. How could him and his little sister not have the same dad? Mom and dad were married and happy when Jenna was born. It didn't make any sense whatsoever to the little boy and he wasn't sure if he should ask him mom about it at all. Maybe Uncle Scott would be able to answer his questions...

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Phil was scheduled to be released from jail around noon. He had used his one phone call to call Vince and luckily the owner of the WWE was able to pull some strings and was able to get him out on early bail, provided that he keep himself out of the trouble in the near future. Vince wanted to know why he was thrown in the clink last night. Phil gave him a very abbreviated version; it wasn't anyone's business but his and Emma's about their private life and what had happened this weekend. He groaned to himself when he thought about how all of these life changing events had happened over the course of the past few days. When he got home to Chicago Friday morning, his intent was to take the kids for the weekend, spend some time with them and then head back on the road after his week of 'vacation'. Instead, he bullied Emma until she finally agreed to let him have the kids, even though she had made prior plans, he ended up sleeping with his estranged wife because she was drunk, the Brooks family spent the afternoon and night of Saturday together, pretending to be a happy family because two of his kids had had major meltdowns about the pending divorce. He still hadn't had more than an hour of two of sleep since Thursday night; he had intended to sleep at the house with Emma, but she had other ideas and instead, she dropped a bomb on him. Then he beat the shit out of his best friend, called his wife a whore in front of his oldest son, and then got hauled off to jail. He was beginning to think that maybe he should have just stayed home this weekend.

On the way back to his apartment, he started to wonder what the hell he was supposed to do now. He still hadn't heard the full story of how and why Emma and Scott hooked up, and how the two of them could be so sure that Jenna was in fact Scott's daughter. If they had done a paternity test, surely Phil would have run across the test results or a receipt from the hospital or something, to indicate that they had the little girl tested. It infuriated him to know that Emma was aware that Jenna might not be his, but she still put his name on the birth certificate. It angered him even more to know that she kept this secret from him for three years. He couldn't even begin to describe the feelings of betrayal he had right now for not only Scott, but also for Emma.

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"Kids! Let's go, Grandma's waiting for us," Emma yelled up the stairs. Her mother had agreed to take the children for the next week while Emma and Phil sorted out their problems. Evelyn was still in strong support of Emma being divorced from Phil. Emma was unsure. The past six months have been hell; not just on the kids and Phil but on and herself as well. She had been trying to drown the feelings of guilt she has over what her and Scott had done with alcohol. But all of the rum in the world wasn't going to be able to fix this mess.

She was just about to yell up the stairs again, when Jack came down the stairs first, with Josh and Jenna trailing behind him. "Mom, how long are we staying at Grandma's? Are we going to be able to see dad again before he leaves?" Jack asked as he set down Jenna's overnight bag and took her little hand.

"I don't know. I'm sure you'll see him or maybe he'll call before has to leave again," Emma said distractedly as she looked around for her car keys.

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Instead of driving back to his apartment, Punk just kept driving until he found himself in front of the house him and Emma had shared for the past five years together. He had a lot of time to think last night and this morning while he sat in that jail cell. For the past six months he had been sure that he would be able to convince Emma to be a halt to the proceedings, and they could just move on with their lives together; but not he wasn't so sure if that's what he wanted anymore. He sat in the car in front the house; her car was gone. Should he stay and wait for her to get back? Or should he just go home and wait until she called him. He knew deep down inside that it was highly unlikely that she would call him willingly. Turning the car off, he got out and went up to the house, using his key to unlock the door he went inside and sat down on couch. He would just wait for her to get back; they needed to talk. He knew he was going to have to do a lot of apologizing for calling her a whore last night. He needed to talk to Jack too. If there was on thing he felt the worst about, was that his boy had heard him say those things to Emma. What kind of father was he?

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Emma had just dropped the kids off at her mom's house and was heading back home when she turned on the radio to try and drown out her thoughts. What was she thinking when she told her mom that she still loved Phil? He did make her promise to love him forever and a day; but so many things had changed since that day. She wasn't the same person, she wanted more out of life. Then there was that forever nagging feeling of betraying him. She 's wished a million times that she had told Scott no, this wasn't right and told him to leave. Instead she did the one thing that she promised Punk she would only do with him—she created a life with Scott. An innocent baby that, until last night, he had no idea wasn't his and Emma's. He really did adore that little girl; he was wrapped around her little finger.

But how did **she** feel about him? If she begged for his forgiveness, and actually got it, would she be willing to fall back into the same routine with him? Would she be all right with him gone days at a time? Would she be all right with staying home with the kids while he was off seeing the world, living his dream? Would she be able to resist the temptation that Scott had presented to her before?

Would he even take her back? She did the ultimate wrong. She broke his trust. She wouldn't blame him if he never wanted to talk to her again and went to court tomorrow morning to try and push the papers through the system faster. Where would that leave her?

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Phil must have sat on the couch for almost and hour before he finally heard her car pull up into the driveway. He braced himself for her to start screaming at him when she unlocked the door and found it unlocked and him sitting on the couch waiting for her.

She opened the door and his breath caught; she looked like hell. It didn't look like she had been to bed yet. Maybe she was feeling as bad he was right now. Her normally perfectly made up face didn't have any make-up on; her beautiful brown hair looked limp and was pulled up into a hasty ponytail. She had a pair of old blue jeans on and one of his old t-shirts. He wasn't sure if her wearing his shirt was a good thing or not.

"Hey," she whispered as she came into the room, set her purse and car keys down on the buffet and sat down in a recliner. "When did you get here," she asked quietly as she refused to meet his eyes, instead finding her hands extremely interesting at the moment.

"About an hour ago," he said quietly as he refused to look at her as well. Why did they keep doing this to themselves, he found himself wondering. Why couldn't they both just accept the fact that it's not working between them and that they should just give up. Because it hasn't been forever and a day he reminded himself. "Where's the kids?"

"I took them to my mom's. Jack didn't want to be here right now, he's um...having a hard time dealing with what happened last night outside."

"I feel like shit knowing that he saw all of that, Em. I really do. I had no idea that he had heard us and had seen everything. The kid probably hates me," Punk said sullenly.

"He doesn't hate you; he could never hate his dad..." Emma said quietly.

"Do you hate me?" he asked as he finally looked up at her.

"No. Do you hate me? I wouldn't blame you if you did, Punk, I really don't. This is why I wanted a divorce, because the guilt finally got to me...I'm so sorry..." she whispered as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Emmy...We promised each other forever, and a day and forever isn't over yet. I just need to know **why**. Why did you do it? And with Scott, my best friend, of all people? What was he giving you that I wasn't? Please tell me everything. From the beginning. I need to know what he could give you that I couldn't. I need to know why you turned away from me like you did. It doesn't matter right now if we're going to get back together or not; I just need to know for my own sanity, what the hell happened between you and Scott."

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_Emma had dropped her kids off at her mom's for the weekend. It was Friday night, and it had been a long week. This mama needed a break. Phil was on the road. Again. She always supported his dream of being a pro, never tried to discourage him from going after the big times, but since he hit it big, the nights have been lonely without him. He didn't approve of drinking, but right now, she didn't care. She had stopped at the liquor store after she dropped Jack and Josh off and picked up a bottle of wine for herself. She had intended to drink it all by herself while she watched sappy movies. She was craving some alone time; taking care of two active little boys by herself could really wear a person down._

_That was why when the doorbell rang at 11:30 that night, she was a little peeved. Who the hell would be coming over this late. Checking the peephole first before she opened the door, she sighed when she saw that it was Punk's best friend Scott. What the hell did he want, she wondered to herself as she opened the door and he came in._

"_Punk's on the road," she mumbled as she sat down on the couch and reached for her glass of wine. She had had four glasses already and she was feeling more than a little woozy. _

"_I know. He asked me to come over and check on you while he was on tour. So here, I am. Checking on you. Are you broken or anything?" he asked with a grin._

_Forgetting that she usually despised Scott, she found herself giggling at his lame joke. "Well, kind of. I'm a little lonely without Punk in my bed at night, but I suppose I'll just have to fly solo until he gets back; if you catch my drift." she giggled with a wink. _

"_Lonely, huh?" he said as he moved off of the chair and sat down next to her on the couch. "Tell me, Emma. What do you miss most about your husband when he's on the road?" he asked quietly as he moved a lock of dark hair off of her shoulder._

"_His touch," she whispered. "I crave him; I can't get enough of him. We've been together for almost seven years and I still can't get enough of him. Does that sound stupid? Because, right now, it sounded stupid to me," she giggled as she took another drink._

"_Shit, woman. How much of that have you had?" he asked as he glanced at the almost empty bottle on the coffee table._

"_Enough to make you look attractive," she spat at him and rolled her eyes. She was trying to remember why he was here in the first place. _

"_You think I'm attractive?" Scott asked with amusement. He didn't drink, but he sometimes found drunk people amusing. It was a Friday night and he was bored; he knew he should just head home now that he checked on her like he promised Punk he would, but there was something...sexy about the way she was acting when she had had a little bit too much to drink._

"_Sure. Why the hell not?" she mumbled as she finished the rest of her wine. She set the glass down and turned to look at Scott. "Why are you here again?"_

"_Punk asked me to stop over to make sure you were doing all right. He said when he talked to you earlier, you sounded a little down in the dumps."_

"_You would be too if you spent all day with two little boys who are hell bent on destroying everything."_

"_They can't be that bad..."_

_Emma chuckled, "Oh, Scott. If you only knew..."_

_._

_._

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"So that's how it started? He came over to check up on you like I asked and then you two started humping?" Phil asked with his hazel eyes starting to flare up with anger.

"No. We were only talking. I didn't know anything was going to happen. Obviously I had had too much-"

"And that's why you shouldn't drink, Em. That shit clouds your judgment. Keep talking."

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"_If I only knew what, Emma?" Scott persisted. He was intrigued with the way she was actually being so candid with him tonight. It was interesting._

"_My day is spent driving those boys around and picking up their messes. I wait by the phone every night for my husband to call, just so I can talk to him for maybe five minutes. Then I go to bed alone. Then the next day I get up and do it all over again until Punk gets to come home for two or three days, then he's gone again. It's a vicious cycle that never stops."_

"_Ah. Poor Emma. All alone at night with no big strong man to cuddle with. Poor thing," Scott chuckled._

_Emma rolled her eyes. "Jerk," she muttered._

"_Hey, now. What's with you? Wait, I get it. Is this little attitude of yours tonight what Punk was talking about when he said that you were feisty?"_

"_He said I was feisty?"_

"_Oh yeah. He said you were a wild woman some nights. I gotta admit, some of the stories I hear about you from Punk make me a little jealous."_

"_What? What kind of stories is he telling you?"_

"_Ah, not much."_

_She moved closer to Scott. "Tell me what he's been saying?"_

"_I shouldn't..."_

_She moved even closer to him; their knees were touching. "Tell me."_

"_You really want to know?"_

_She giggled. "Yes! I really want to know."_

_He reached out and brushed some hair out of her face. "He said that you were a firecracker in bed and that you really knew how to give head."_

"_Are you fucking serious?"_

"_Yep, that's exactly what he said," Scott said as he held back a chuckle. Punk had never told him anything about him and Emma; she was his and only his, he didn't feel the need to share their secrets even with his best friend._

"_Liar."_

"_Not lying. I was kinda jealous when he said that. I've never had a firecracker in my bed before; seems kind of dangerous," he said softly as he brushed that burdensome piece of hair out of her eyes again._

"_Do you want one?"_

"_Want what?"_

"_A firecracker," she whispered as she bit her bottom lip. _

"_More than anything," he whispered back as he moved his face closer to hers. "How lonely are you without him, Emma?"_

"_Very."_

"_I see. Maybe I can do something to help..." he trailed off as his lips met hers._

_._

_._

_._

"Stop. Stop. Stop. I don't know if I can hear anymore of this, Emmy. I really don't," Punk said as he jumped up from the couch and started pacing around the room. "Tell me you didn't sleep with him that night."

"I didn't sleep with him that night."

"When did you sleep with him?"

Emma bit her bottom lip; she didn't want to tell him. If he was upset now, he was going to be even more upset when he found out the date that Jenna was conceived. 


	11. Chapter 11

**-11-**

Punk stopped pacing and sat down on the couch next to Emma. "Emmy, tell me. When did you first sleep with Scott?" he asked softly as he looked down at the floor. He had a funny feeling he knew when it was; and it was going to hurt a whole lot if he was right.

"Punk...I...I..." she stuttered before she started crying again.

"Emmy, pull yourself together. If you want any chance of us getting past this, I need to know exactly what happened with you and Scott.; no matter how much it's going to hurt to say it. I need to know. Keep talking."

.

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.

"_Emmy, I'm sorry, but there isn't much I can do. There isn't another flight to Chicago until tomorrow morning. I'm sorry, baby. You know I wish I could be there," Punk said. He was trying to reason with his sobbing wife. He had just found out that his late afternoon flight from Tampa to Chicago was going to be delayed until the next morning because of an upcoming storm. Today was their fourth wedding anniversary and he had promised, he had swore up and down, that he would be home to celebrate with her. This was the first time he was going to have to break a promise._

"_I know you can't control the weather, but it's just that I miss you so much. It feels like I haven't seen you for weeks. I miss you, the boys miss you..."_

"_I know, baby. I miss the boys a lot too. But I especially miss you and how nice and warm you are at night."_

"_I even went and bought a new dress for tonight..." she trailed off._

_Suddenly his interest was peaked. "What color is it," he asked softly as he tried to keep his voice down in the crowded airport terminal. No one else needed to know what his wife was wearing. She was his. He was hers. That's the way it had always been and always would be._

"_Red..." she whispered back._

"_Is it short?"_

"_Uh huh. And tight."_

"_Just how I like it. Shit, I wish I was there with you right now. I'd say screw our dinner plans and I'd just throw you on the kitchen floor and fuck you until you scream my name."_

"_Mmmm...that's what I wanted to hear. I love you, Punk. I miss you..."_

"_Love you too baby, and I miss you more than you can even imagine." After a few more minutes of conversation and more dirty whispering they ended the call and Emma was left all alone in the kitchen. She had been planning this anniversary date for weeks now; and of course his job and its brutal travel schedule had to ruin everything._

_She sighed and looked around the kitchen. She might as well do some housekeeping since she had the house to herself for the night. The boys had gone to stay with her sister for the weekend; giving her and Punk a much needed weekend alone. They had been unsuccessfully trying for another baby the last few months. Her husband had this crazy idea in his head that they needed more children; specifically a little girl. At this time Jack was almost five and Josh had just turned two and according to Punk it as the perfect time to try for a girl. She agreed, it's not like she had much else going on with her life; she was almost 24 and spent her days and nights at home with the boys while Punk lived his dream. _

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"I can't believe this, Emma. I know exactly which weekend you are talking about. How could...You know what? Never mind. Keep talking," Punk said as he kept his eyes down at the floor. He couldn't bear to look at her while she told him the story of their marriage's demise. It would hurt too much.

"Are you sure you want to hear the rest, Phil? You already know what happened at-"

"I need to know. Keep talking."

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_There was a knock at the back door while Emma was washing dishes. She sighed, dried her hands off and went to see who it was; a smirk broke out on her face when she saw who it was. Scott. Since their first kiss a few months ago, he had been coming around a lot more when Punk was out on the road. They hadn't slept together yet, they were cautious to not go too far with each other. But there was just something about her that he had to have; and he intended to get it from her tonight. "Hey," she said softly as she opened the door for him, and looked around to make sure none of the neighbors saw her husband's best friend sneaking in the back door._

"_Hey," he said quietly as he waited for her to close the door. "Punk make it back yet?"_

"_No. Flight's delayed; won't be home until tomorrow afternoon..." she trailed off as she watched Scott lick his bottom lip and move closer to her. Pulling the shade down on the back door, he pushed her against it and crashed his mouth down on hers. Her hands went to the small of his back, pulling him closer to her. "Want me..." he asked as he breathed in her ear. The tingly feeling she felt with him so close only allowed her to nod. "Where?" he asked as his lips traveled from her ear, down her neck, to her sternum and stopped at the top of her breasts. He looked up at her. "Where..." he asked again. _

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"Stop," Punk said with his head in his hands. "Two things. Please don't tell me that you two did it in our bed..."

Emma swallowed a sob and nodded. "Damn it. Emma. All right," he said in a strained voice. "Our anniversary?" Emma nodded. "Fuck," was all he said before the two sat in silence for a few minutes. "Keep talking."

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_Emma had intended to lead Scott to the couch, but he had other ideas. He took her hand and led her upstairs and down the hall to her bedroom. He closed the door behind him and tried to ignore the feelings of guilt he was feeling right now being in his best friend's wife in his bedroom. Eventually his feelings of lust won out and he picked her up by the waist and she wrapped her long legs around his middle. Very slowly he laid her down on the bed and started to undress her. First her tank top went and he smothered the exposed skin with kisses and light bites while she purred in content, running her ringers through his hair. Her light blue lacy bra was the next to go; he marveled in awe at the sight of her amazing breasts. Large enough to drive a man insane, small enough to be perfect; still high and firm even after two kids. He moved his mouth down her body and took his time as he took one already erect nipple in his mouth and sucked lightly. Emma let out a soft moan at the sensation he was giving her right now. He let go and smiled at her before leaning down and capturing her mouth in a passionate kiss._

_The rest of Emma's clothes were quickly discarded and she laid underneath him, completely vulnerable and waiting for him. Scott quickly undressed and laid down as he pulled her on top of him. "Sure you want to do this?" he whispered as one hand rubbed the tattoo on her right hip and the other one reached up to push her dark hair out of her eyes. She nodded as she repositioned herself to take all of him in; she let out a groan of pleasure the same time he mumbled, "Shit, woman..."_

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"I don't know if I can hear the rest of this. I'm assuming you two didn't use a condom?" Phil whispered.

"No," Emma whispered back.

"Why Scott? Why my best friend?"

"Punk, I'm sorry-"

"Enough. I'm tired of hearing how sorry you are; if you were really sorry and if you had felt really bad about it, you wouldn't have done it in the first place!" he said as he finally started talking in a voice above a whisper. "When did you find out you were pregnant?" he demanded.

"Why are we doing this? Why do you want to hear this? I feel horrible about it." 

"And you should. You **slept** with my **best friend**. You two created a **baby** together. And then you **lied** to me about me being Jenna's dad. Damn it, Emma. I was so excited to find out that we were having another baby together; and then, then I was over the fucking moon to find out that we were having a girl. I need to hear it, I need to understand **why**. When did you stop loving me?"

Emma had no response. She didn't know what to tell him; she never stopped loving him, she always loved him, she just gave into lust at the most lonely point in her life. "I'm so sorry..." she whispered as she tried to move closer to him on the couch. She was shocked when he didn't move away from her, but instead put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

"I know. Tell me what happened when you found out you were pregnant."

"Punk, I don't want to talk about this anymore..."

"Too bad, Em. I **need** to hear it."

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_Emma stood in the bathroom, while the boys were laid down for their afternoon nap. She hadn't been feeling well lately, mostly tired and worn out, and noticed that her period hadn't show up like it was supposed to. Taking a deep breath, she looked down at the pregnancy test she had taken three minutes ago and let out a groan. She was pregnant. Most of her was excited because her and Punk were going to be adding another baby to the family; the other part was terrified that the baby wasn't Punk's. After being delayed at the airport on their wedding anniversary, he eventually made it home the next afternoon. He acted completely out of character and brought home flowers and a very special present for her. Instead of pulling up to the house in a cab, he pulled into the driveway with a brand new black Grand Am; a car she had been whining for him to buy her for several months now. Emma gave her husband a special 'welcome home, happy anniversary, thank you' present upstairs in their bedroom. Emma was certain that that was day she had conceived; but she had a nagging feeling that it may have been the night before when Scott had come over. Things had heated up so quickly, that they forgot protection until it was too late._

_Emma felt her perfect little world crumbling around her. Punk was supposed to be home late tonight; she would tell him them. But before that, she should probably call Scott..._

_._

_._

"_Are you sure?" Scott asked nervously as he paced around his small apartment. Emma had just called with some disturbing news—she was pregnant and there was a small chance that it was his and not Punk's._

"_Yes, I'm sure. I took three fucking tests."_

"_What do you want to do?"_

"_What do you mean 'what do I want to do'? I'm **married, **there's no reason for my husband to think that this isn't his. Are you dense, Scott? Did you really think I'm going to say, 'Hey honey, we're pregnant, but just in case the baby comes out Jewish, I should probably tell you that I've been banging your best friend while you're on the road'! Are you stupid?" Emma was failing at keeping her voice down. She was pissed that Scott could act so dumb sometimes._

"_Shit. Calm down, woman. Do we have to wait until the baby's born to get it tested?"_

"_I think so. How the hell am I going to hide that test from Punk?"_

"_No idea. We'll figure it out though."_

"_We should have **never** done this in the first place and then we wouldn't be in this mess."_

"_I know. But ya gotta admit, Em. How can something that felt so fucking good be so wrong?" he asked with a grin._

"_You disgust me," was all she said before she hung up on him and went to get ready to pick Punk up at the airport._

_._

_._

_._

"Did you keep sleeping with him after you found out you were pregnant?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Punk abruptly moved away from her and jumped off the couch. "Where are you going?" she asked in a small voice.

"I need to get out of here for a few minutes. I'm going for a run. I suggest you be here when I get back,. We're not done here yet. We have to figure out what the fuck we're going to do. I might be a damn idiot, but I love you. I don't want to throw away ten years together. Think about that while I'm gone." he said as he walked out the front door, leaving her to be alone with her guilty conscience. From her purse, she heard her cell phone start ringing. She got off the couch and went to see who it was; she let out a scream of frustration when she saw that it was Scott. She had had enough of him; in a fit of rage, she threw her phone across the room and watched it shatter against the wall; then she slumped down to her knees and cried. She had been holding all of this in for three years; it was time to let it all out.


	12. Chapter 12

**-12-**

Punk was gone on his run for half an hour before he finally worked up enough nerve to go in the house. His head was swimming with all of the awful and horrible things that Emma had told him this afternoon. He was conflicted; on one hand he still loved her and was never going to stop, on the other hand she had betrayed him and he knew the right thing to do would be to finalize the divorce with her. He didn't know what to do. It's not that he only wanted to stay with her because of the kids; he wanted to stay because he'd been in love with her for ten years and didn't want to lose that. Even after everything, he still loved her, still cared for her, still wanted the best for her.

He walked up the front steps and opened the door. He didn't see Emma in the living room when he closed the door behind him. Wandering into the kitchen he heard her talking to someone on the phone. Strange, because when he looked down, he saw her cell phone shattered into a million pieces. He sighed as he thought about her famous temper tantrums; most days she was a walking bundle of emotions, today was no different. He walked towards the kitchen and paused in the doorway, listening to her side of the conversation.

"I don't care. I don't want you to call me anymore; it was a mistake and it should have never happened."

"Tough shit, Scott. You haven't done anything for the past three years, what makes you think that I'm going to let you start now? She has no idea about any of this; and I don't think right now is the time to tell her. She knows Phil as her dad, let's just leave it at that. She's three years old, she won't understand."

"Don't you fucking dare. I swear I will have you murdered if you even think about doing that!"

Punk had heard enough. He walked into the kitchen and took the phone from Emma; surprisingly enough, she didn't protest.

"Who the fuck is this?" he growled into the phone, even though he knew it was Scott.

"Shit. Punk, I was just trying to talk to Emma."

"Leave my wife alone. I am not fucking around anymore, Colton."

"Whatever. She'll eventually come crawling back to me once you go-"

"Shut the fuck up! You were supposed to be my best friend? How could you fucking do this me?"

"Punk, you don't understand-"

"No, Scott. What I don't understand is how that even though I came to you, upset as hell when Emma said she wanted a divorce, you just sat there and agreed with me, even though you wanted her for yourself. You were probably just waiting for our divorce to be finalized so you could move it on her. You selfish prick! Stay the hell away from my wife and stay the hell away from my kids," Punk threatened his former best friend.

Scott chuckled; Punk wanted to play like this, huh? "How about **you** stay away from **my** daughter?" he said before he hung up leaving Punk to stare at the phone. He considered whipping it across the room, but Emma piped up softly.

"Please don't throw that, I won't have a phone otherwise. I already broke my cell..." she said in a quiet voice while she looked down at her hands.

Punk sighed, set the phone down gently and sat down next to her. "So now what? Do I have the whole story about what's been going on?" Emma shook her head no. "What am I missing? Oh yeah. I need to know when you had Jenna tested. Do you want to tell me now, or can I take a shower? I kind of smell..." he said as he poked her in the arm, hoping to get a smile out of her. Even after everything that had happened this weekend, the horrible words they had said to each other, the fighting, the bickering, and Punk finally learning the truth, he still just wanted to see that pretty smile.

"Go shower," she said.

"Do I have any clothes here yet?" he asked as he started toward the stairs. She nodded and followed him up to their bedroom. He grabbed a towel from the linen closet and headed into the bathroom to get washed up. They might have talked about a lot today, but there was still more to say. He wasn't done with her yet.

Emma wandered into the bedroom that up until about seven months ago, she had shared with Punk. Even though she had been crying all day and she thought that she didn't have anything left, her eyes still clouded up with tears as she thought about everything that her and Phil had been through during the past ten years. She went over to the closet and pulled out the box that she had packed all of his clothes in; she hadn't had the courage to give it to him months ago. That would make this all seem to final. It scared her now that he knew the truth, that she didn't want to let him go. She had no reason to pretend to be mad at him anymore; she had only filed for divorce and acted like a total bitch just so she would push him away so it wouldn't hurt so bad when he eventually found everything out. It was true that she did want to do more with her life than just be a mommy and a housewife; she wanted a career of her own, but she wanted her husband there with her when she made that decision.

"I am so fucked up in the head," she mumbled to herself as she opened one of the boxes and pulled out a pair of his blue jeans and dug further into the box until she found what she had been looking for; this had been the hardest article of clothing to put away, but she had too. It was an old, really old, Misfits hooded sweatshirt. He had had it for years and she used to steal it from him every chance she got. She lifted the sweatshirt to her nose; it still smelled like him. She found a small smile appear on her face when a memory flashed through her mind of her wearing this sweatshirt.

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"_Punk, it's raining out. Why can't we just call a cab or stay here until it stops?" Emma whined at her boyfriend. They were at a friend's house and were set to head home, but a sudden downpour changed their minds. _

"_Quit whining. You're not going to melt," Punk mumbled as he was about to pull his Misfits sweatshirt on over his head when he stopped and noticed that his girl was only wearing a t-shirt and was going to freeze in the rain. He threw it at her, "Here, wear this before you get sick and start whining," he said to her as he started towards the door. He knew he was acting like an ass tonight; but that was only because he was nervous as hell. He had been dating Emma for two years and he had finally worked up enough nerve and enough cash to buy her something. He loved this girl. She loved him. They had each other, and that's all they really needed. They didn't need her mother's approval. Oh how Evelyn despised him; she let it be known every chance she got that he wasn't good enough for her Emma. Too bad for Evelyn, Emma thought Punk was perfect for her. They made quite the pair—his growing collection of tattoos, piercings and long hair complimented her long brown hair with pink streaks and lip ring. They were two of a kind, destined to be together for the long haul._

_She rolled her pretty blue eyes as she pulled the sweatshirt on and started to follow him. Outside, he pulled his Chicago Cubs hat on and she pulled the hood of the sweatshirt up and they started the five block walk to their apartment together in silence in the pouring rain. He kept one hand in his pocket, fingering the velvet box in his right pocket with his fingers while he held her hand in his left. Earlier this week he had planned tonight all out, but he was impulsive and changed his mind a lot. As the couple passed by a playground, he stopped walking. "Punk, what the hell are you doing? It's pouring out!" she said to him as she watched in amazement as he got down on his knees in a puddle and pulled something out of his pocket. 'What the fuck is he doing?' she thought to herself until she realized that he had a little black box in his hand._

"_Emmy Sue, I love you. A lot. I don't want to go through life without you by my side. You wanna get married?" he asked as the nervous words rushed out of his mouth._

_For a few seconds, Emma stood there in the rain and stared at her boyfriend like he was crazy before she let out a squeal and thew herself into his arms, knocking him down onto the wet grass in the process. "I take that as a 'yes' then?" he asked before she covered his mouth with hers in a passionate kiss..._.

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"Did you find something for me to wear?" Punk said as he interrupted Emma's thoughts. She found herself blushing as she saw him with just a towel wrapped around his waist, his short hair still damp from the shower. She nodded and held out the pair of jeans, boxers and sweatshirt she had found for him. "Thanks," he mumbled as he started to get dressed. She laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling wondering, not for the first time that day, what the hell she was doing. He finished dressing and laid down next to her on the bed. "What are you doing," he whispered.

"Thinking," she whispered back.

"About what?"

"Us," she said simply as she turned her head to look at him.

"Is there still an us, Emmy?" he asked as he pushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"I don't know; I mean, there's always going to be an us, but not like it used to be. Know what I mean?" she asked with a confused and conflicted look on her face.

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I know you're probably real tired of this, but I need to hear the rest or it will seriously drive me insane. So...start talking," he said as he sat up on the bed and sat cross legged as he faced her.

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_The months during Emma's pregnancy were much like her first two—Punk was on the road most of the week and was only able to come home two or three days, which meant that there were a lot of opportunities for Scott to come over and 'visit'. Punk was able to convince WWE management to give him a month off a week before Emma's due date. She argued with Scott about him having to stay away while Punk was home._

"_I don't understand why, Emma," he said in a frustrated voice._

_She rolled her eyes, "Really? You don't understand? What is there not to understand, Scott. I'm married. To Punk. He's going to be home. We can't see each other anymore. Not that we should be seeing each other in the first place."_

"_It just sucks, that's all," he said softly as he crossed the room and placed his hands on her huge pregnant belly. The baby immediately started kicking, which brought a smile to Scott's face. "Do you really think she's mine?" he whispered hopefully._

"_No idea. Punk came home and we made love-"_

"_Why is called 'making love' when you talk about Punk, but you call it 'just fucking' when it comes down to me and you?"_

"_We have been over this probably a million times. I'm married; what we did together, should have **never** happened in the first place."_

"_Whatever, Emma. You wanted it just as bad as I did. Just admit it."_

"_I am not admitting shit. In fact, I think you should leave. Punk's going to be home soon."_

"_So."_

"_Really? So? Oh my, God. Get out Scott," she practically screamed at him._

"_I want a paternity test as soon as you have that baby; make sure I know when she's born," he spat at her before he took off, slamming the door behind him._

_._

_._

_._

_Two weeks later, Punk dropped the two boys off at his mother in law's house in a hurry and drove as fast as he could to get Emma to the hospital. Her water had broke a few hours earlier and her contractions were getting closer together. She wasn't going to be able to last much longer without a hospital._

_Three hours later and a whole lot of screaming and cursing from Emma, a perfect seven pound two ounce baby girl was born. Punk smiled widely for the nurse holding a camera as she took a picture of him holding his newest child. Very gently he laid the baby girl onto Emma's chest who started crying. "What should we name her?" she whispered as she couldn't stop gazing at this beautiful little miracle._

"_Jenna," he said softly as he watched his wife bond with their new baby._

"_Jenna what?"_

"_Hmm...Jenna Sue sounds good..."_

_._

_._

_._

"You know, the day Jenna was born was one of the happiest days of my pathetic life, Emmy. It was right up there with when Jack and Josh were born. And when I married you..." Punk trailed off.

"Phil, you know when I say that I'm sorry, I really do mean it, right?" she whispered as she moved closer to him on the bed. He was still sitting cross legged across from her. He nodded.

"I know, baby. But you have to see it from my point of view. I just found out that my wife cheated on me and that my daughter isn't mine. I know you don't want to talk about Scott anymore and you probably just want me to leave, but I need to hear the rest of it. Tell me when you and Scott had the paternity test done."

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_Jenna was six months old when Scott started bothering Emma about taking a paternity test. She had been putting it off, but finally agreed to bring the baby in to the clinic to get the testing done. The tricky part was how they were going to hide the results from Punk. Scott offered to pay for the test and to have the results sent to his apartment, that way Punk would have no idea what was going on. They both agreed that it would be easier on everyone if Jenna turned out to be Punk's; except that Scott was secretly wishing that the baby girl would turn out to be his. He was a little disappointed when her eyes weren't brown like his, that would have been a dead giveaway to Punk that something wasn't right. The little girl had ended up with bright blue eyes and brown hair like her mother._

_The test was relatively painless and they would have the results in less than two weeks. For those two weeks, Emma was on pins and needles. Punk noticed her nervousness when he was home for a few days, but she brushed it off saying that she was just tired. _

_Two weeks later Scott received the test results in the mail at his apartment. Beth was there when he read them. "So, what do they say?" she asked disinterestedly. She could really care less about what Emma and Scott had done together; she was more concerned about how her friend Punk was going to react when he found out that his perfect little wife wasn't so perfect. _

"_Look," was all he said as he tossed the envelope with the results in them. This didn't work out to his advantage at all._

_._

_._

_._

_Later that evening, after Scott was sure that Punk had headed back on the road, he stopped over at Emma's after the boys had gone to bed. He didn't bring the actual results with him, he was just going to tell her and he knew that she would just believe him._

"_Tell me," she demanded as they sat down at the kitchen table._

"_She's mine," he said quietly._

"_Shit."_

"_Is it such a bad thing?" he asked._

_She looked at him like he was on crack, "Of course it's a bad thing," she said before she started bawling. "I'm going upstairs, lock the door behind you," she said quietly as she picked up Jenna from her bouncing chair and brought the baby upstairs with her. She needed some time away from Scott to figure out what the hell she was going to do now that her life was completely fucked._

_._

_._

_._

"So, he never actually showed you the test results?" Punk asked in shock. How could his wife be so trusting?

She shook her head. "No, I just took it for what it was and didn't question it."

They sat in silence, side by side on the bed, for a few minutes before he spoke up. "Let's get her tested again."

"Why?"

"Because I have a funny feeling that Scotty lied to you."

"I don't understand."

Punk sighed; her she went, starting to be difficult again. "I need to know, Emma. I need to know for sure if that little girl is mine or not."

"What if she isn't?" she whispered as she finally forced herself to look at him.

"I guess it's over then."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: This chapter is rated M**

**-13-**

"But what if I don't want it to be over," Emma whispered. Last night and today had been an eye opener for her; she realized what a bitch she had been to him and she really was truly sorry. She was also not ready for it to be over. She wanted him and her kids to just go back to the way things were; she didn't want to watch her children break down and cry because they were frustrated that mom and dad couldn't get along anymore.

Punk shrugged his shoulders. "Guess you should have thought that before you cheated on me, babe," he said shortly as he moved away from her and looked for his shoes. He didn't mean to be a prick to her right now when she asked what happened if she didn't want it to be over; he just had to be honest with her. He loved her, and was always going to love her, but he had to be real about what would happen if Jenna really did turn out to be Scott's. He quickly decided to change the subject. "Have you eaten anything today?" he asked as he put his shoes on and sat down next to her on the bed again. She shook her head. "Why not?" he asked.

"It never ceases to amaze me, Phil, that you can think about food no matter what's going on around you."

"I'm a guy. And I'm hungry. Do you wanna cook me something or should we go out?"

"Are you just assuming that I want to go somewhere with you or that I would make something for you?" she asked, curious that after everything that happened today, he could just act like everything was fine.

"Listen, I know that we've been through a lot of shit this weekend, but, come on. The kids are gone for the night, I'm hungry and you should eat something. Don't pick right now to difficult, Em. You've been tolerable all day long, I like this Emma, I like this agreeable Emma who doesn't turn into a bitch at the drop of a hat, please don't start now," he warned before he stood up and walked out of the room and headed downstairs, sure that she would follow him after a few minutes.

Emma went into the bathroom; she had to fix her hair and maybe put some make-up on before she even thought of leaving the house with him. She didn't like what she saw when she looked in the mirror; she looked tired,, she hadn't slept more than five hours this entire weekend; her normally bright blue eyes were bloodshot from all of the tears she had cried today. Her long brown hair was still pulled up into a messy ponytail. She was so engrossed in watching her own reflection, that she didn't notice that Punk had come back upstairs and had been watching her from the doorway of the bathroom. She didn't know that he had been watching her until she saw his reflection in the mirror as he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her slender waist. He pulled her hair out of ponytail and let it hang down to her shoulders before he moved it away from her neck and started to leave soft kisses on the right side, while she watched him in the mirror.

His hands moved from her waist to the hem of the t-shirt she was wearing, lifting slowly, he slid his hands underneath the shirt and started rubbing her breasts through her bra, paying extra attention to her nipples, which were hardening under his touch. "Punk..." she whispered; he stopped kissing her neck long enough to meet her eyes in the mirror, before he smirked and continued his neck kissing. He stopped touching and teasing her breasts long enough to pull her t-shirt up over her had and discard it on the bathroom floor. He watched her eyes start to glaze over with desire for him as she watched him slowly slide the straps of her black bra off her shoulders, kissing the exposed skin as he went. He unhooked her bra and let her breasts free. Each of his thumbs started to play with her painfully erect nipples as she leaned back against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Punk," she whispered again as his hands moved from her breasts and trailed down to her stomach, briefly resting on the waistband of her jeans before he slowly unbuttoned them and slid the zipper down at an excruciating pace. He stopped nibbling on her ear lobe long enough to glance in the mirror to see the look on her face as he started to move her jeans off of her hips and down her legs. She stepped out of them, leaving her in just her black panties.

She guided his hands down to the top of her panties and gave a gentle encouraging push for his hands to slip inside. He obliged and held onto her hand as his fingers started moving towards her center. Her breath caught as she felt his thumb slide over her clit, causing her to tremble against him. "Punk," she whispered again as she watched him in the mirror; kissing her neck while he slipped two fingers inside her. She let out a soft moan as he two fingers explored her inside and his thumb kept brushing over her clit. She kept his hand on top of his, encouraging him to continue to finger her. If he kept this up, she was going to lose it fast; he had always had that affect on her. His other hand started to slide her panties down her legs. She quickly stepped out of them. She watched herself in the mirror while he pleasured her with just his fingers. She wanted him; her body was on fire with desire for him right now. Very slowly he took his fingers out of her and rubbed her juices on her nipples as he turned around captured a wet nipple in his mouth and sucked her own juices off of it. He raised his head pressed his forehead to hers, his breathing slow and even compared to hers. Very gently, he pressed his lips to hers, while he held her in place by her hips; not that she was going to run away from him right now. She was so turned on by him. He broke the kiss and his hazel eyes met her blue eyes. Her hands moved down from his shoulders to the bottom of his sweatshirt, with shaky hands, she lifted it over his head and tossed it on the floor. She ran her hands down his smooth chest, mindlessly tracing her fingers over his tattoos until her hands ran down his stomach and started to unbutton his jeans while he watched her. No words had been spoken since she whispered he name a few minutes ago; there were no words for what was about to happen. He discarded his jeans, leaving him in just his boxer shorts, his erect member waiting to be freed from his boxers. She slid his shorts off of him and there they stood; both filled with desire and passion.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed down; she knew what he wanted. With a wicked smile she got down on her knees and stroked his cock a few times before she took it all in her mouth. He finally let out a groan as he felt his cock hit the back of her throat. He played with her hair while her warm mouth moved up and down his cock, taking him all in, filling him with pleasure. After a few minutes of the greatest pleasure ever known to man, he had to make her stop or he was going to blow right there. "Stand up," he whispered. She stood up and he leaned down to kiss her, his lip ring digging into her lip as his tongue wrestled with hers. Very abruptly he turned her around so she was facing the sink again. Their eyes met in the mirror and he smirked at her swollen lips and glazed over eyes. It was time.

Running his hands down her smooth back, he traced the butterfly tattoo on the small of her back before he ran his hands over her ass. Without warning, he pushed himself in, receiving a moan of instant pleasure from his wife as he started moving in and out with perfect rhythm. He held on to her hips and made her move with him...

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"Damn it, Emmy Sue," he growled in his ear as he pulled back on her hair, making her look at herself in the mirror while he fucked her. He was so close, he was going to lose it. With a hard bite to her shoulder, he thrust into her one last time before he shuddered against her back. He placed soft kisses on her damp skin; he had given her quite the workout. He could hear her breathing hard as she tightened around him, finally getting her release as well. "I love you so fucking much," he murmured into her back. He finally pulled out and spun her around, pulling her close to his chest while he picked her up and set her on the vanity; she immediately snuggled up to his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist while he rested his chin on top of her head. Time seemed to stand still while Emma and Punk held onto each other for dear life.

A few minutes went by before Emma felt the need for a shower. She gently pushed Punk away and hopped off the vanity only to take his hand and lead him over to the shower. He wasn't getting away from her anytime soon...

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An hour later, they were sitting in a pizza place near their house. The placed was packed for a Sunday night so all that was available was a small booth towards the back of the restaurant. It was actually perfect for them. For the time being it seemed that the couple had forgotten about all of their problems and were focusing on enjoying each others company like they used to. Punk was listening with his full attention as Emma recapped the parent teacher conference she recently had with Jack's third grade teacher. According to his teacher, he was a smart boy who was quiet at times, but wasn't afraid to stick up for other kids who might be getting picked on. He really seemed like he enjoyed all of his classes and was 'a joy to have in the classroom'. "Sounds like we raised a good kid, huh, Em?" Punk said with a smile as he took a drink of his Pepsi.

She nodded and softly said, "Yeah, we did. All of our kids are good," she looked down at her hands. She wasn't sure how he felt about Jenna right now knowing there was a good possibility that she wasn't his biological child.

"That they are. What's the matter?" he asked as he noticed her avoiding eye contact with him again.

"I...I don't know. I don't know how many times I can apologize for what happened with Jenna-"

"Em, let's just get her tested again or at least ask Scott to see the test results. I'm sure he kept them."

"What if he did keep them and he was right? What if he really is Jenna's dad?" she asked as her voice broke as she tried to hold back the sob that was rising in her throat.

"Let's get something straight," he said sternly. "He might be Jenna's biological father, but I am her daddy. I'm the one that was there with you when she was born. I was there staying up all night with you and her when she was sick. I watched her take her first steps. I'm the one she calls daddy. She's my little girl, not Scott's. Nothing is going to change that, Emma."

"What about us?" she whispered.

"I love you," he said simply as his hazel eyes took her all in; she was still the girl he had fallen in love with ten years ago. She was still the girl who tried like hell to learn how to cook during their first year of marriage and failed miserably. She was still the girl who believed in his dream and pushed him to be the greatest in the world. "I know what you're asking though; and all I can really say is that we're going to have to cross that road when we get there," he said as he covered her hand with his and gave her a small smile.

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The walk back to the house was quiet. Punk was surprised when Emma actually took his hand and held it for the six block walk home. It was getting late, almost ten o'clock, when they finally stood on the front steps, staring awkwardly at each other. "Do you want to come in?" she finally whispered as she bit her bottom lip and made herself look at him.

"Maybe. Are you just going to kick me out after about a half an hour or so? That's what happened the last time you asked me to spend the night."

"Who said I was asking you to spend the night?" she teased as she winked at him.

"Your eyes did, baby," he whispered as he leaned down to capture her mouth in a kiss. He kept wondering when he was going to wake up from this dream; because right now, his wife was acting like the girl he had married eight years ago instead of the raging bitch she had been for the past seven months.

"Well...Ok," she mumbled as she unlocked the front door and he followed her inside. He smiled as he watched her from behind; maybe this weekend was their turning point. Things couldn't get much worse; they **had** to start looking up at some point.


	14. Chapter 14

**-14-**

The next morning, Emma woke up with Punk's arms still wrapped tightly around her waist. She closed her eyes and sighed; for the first time in a long time, she was all right with him laying next to her and actually touching her. She knew about his insomnia and how he had trouble sleeping at night. It looked like he just needed to sleep next to his wife to get over that bout of insomnia that had been plaguing him for the past seven months. Very gently, she unwrapped his arms from her waist and slipped out of the bed to head to the bathroom. She needed coffee, and lots of it. Her and Punk had stayed up until at least three this morning talking and laughing; it had been a long time since they had done that.

Today was Monday, which meant that Jack had school all day, Josh had kindergarten this morning and Jenna would spend the morning doing errands with her grandma. Emma knew her mom was going to be pissed as hell when she found out what her daughter had been up to while Evelyn had agreed to keep the children for a few days so she could 'relax'. Ever since Emma told her mother that she had intended to divorce Phil, she was more than willing to do whatever she could to help Emma out. Evelyn hated Phil and had never understood why her daughter insisted on taking up with such a...punk.

After she was done in the bathroom, she looked around for some clothes to throw on. She found a pair of hot pink short shorts and smiled when she saw Punk's Misfits sweatshirt laying on the floor. She pulled it on over her head, glanced over at her sleeping husband one more time and headed downstairs to make some coffee. After talking last night until the wee hours of the morning, the couple had decided that they were going to have a full day today ahead of them.

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Beth rolled her eyes as she watched Scott pace back and forth in the living room of his crappy apartment. He had begged her to come over this morning so she could help him figure out what the hell he was going to do with the Emma, Punk and Jenna fiasco. "I'm going to leave if you don't stop pacing, Colton," she growled as he passed by her one more time. He nodded and sat down in a chair across from her.

"What the hell am I going to do, Beth?" he asked worriedly. "Punk knows about Jenna. And knowing him as well as I do, he's going to want to see the test results or he's going to want to do his own paternity test. Then what the fuck am I going to do? You said this was all going to work out according to how we had planned it out, as long as I kept after Emma." 

"Ok, first of all, I don't understand what the fuss is all about. When he comes to you and asks to see the test results that the clinic sent you, just give him the ones that we had made for just this type of situation. Shit, do I have to think of everything?" she asked as she rolled her eyes.

"What if still doesn't believe them and wants to take the test himself? Huh? Then what happens? He's gonna know that those results were fake!"

Beth chuckled. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh right now, but I still can't get over how gullible Emma is; I mean, I know it's been like two and a half years since you told her, but I still can't believe that she just took your word, without seeing the test herself, that you had fathered that little spoiled brat."

"Well, I'm just that convincing, I guess," Scott said with a smirk. "So, you think I should just show Emma the doctored results and then Punk will be all right without getting tested himself?" Beth nodded. Inside she was screaming at Scott to shut the fuck up. How could he be so stupid sometimes? "All right. Then you're sure that Punk will go ahead finalize the divorce?" Again, Beth nodded.

"Yeah, and then they're broken up, Emma will turn to you because Punk broke up with her and left her with nothing, and my darling Punk will be on the rebound, giving me the perfect opportunity to swoop in and convince him that it was always supposed to be **me and him** that were meant to get together, and not him and that little bitch Emma. It's been almost ten years since she ruined everything. I hate her," Beth growled as she thought about how Emma had charmed Punk and wormed her way into his life. A spot that was supposed to Beth's.

Scott sighed. "You know, Beth, we've been working on this plan for like four years now, I'm gonna be pissed as hell if it doesn't work out like we planned."

Beth shook her head. "It will work out, Colton. Like Punk always says...have faith," she whispered with an evil smile on her face.

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Emma was sitting at the kitchen table, a hot cup of coffee next to her, trying to put her cell phone back together unsuccessfully, when Punk wandered downstairs. He stopped next to her on his way to the coffee pot and watched as he wife started throwing the broken pieces of her phone against the wall. "Morning, baby," he whispered in her hair as he bent down to kiss the top of her head. "Fixing your phone?" he asked with a smirk on he sat down next to her, his hazel eyes full of amusement.

She turned and glared at him. "Stupid phone..." she mumbled as she pushed the rest of the phone onto the kitchen floor and crossed her arms across her chest.

Punk bent down and picked the broken pieces up and threw them in the garbage. "You're so cute when you're mad. I'll buy you a new one today," he whispered in her ear before he sat down. "But you have to promise to play nice with this next one."

"Punk, you know as well as I do, that I don't like to play nice."

"Trust me, Emmy, I know; and I've got the scratches down my back to prove it," he said with a wide smile.

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Later that morning, after a quick make-out session in the living room, Punk and Emma headed over to Punk's apartment to pick up some more of his clothes and to pick up the suitcases that the kids had left there Saturday.

Emma hadn't been to the apartment that her husband had rented for himself after she had filed for divorce and the court ordered him to move out of the house he owned. She had grilled Jack for details about the place every time the kids came home from spending a rare weekend with their dad. From what Jack said, the apartment was in an old building on the second floor, the hallway smelled funny and it was always a mess. Emma didn't doubt that it was a mess; Punk was never home and he tended to be messy when he was home. He probably didn't even see the need to pick up after himself; he had always had Emma to do that for him.

Punk held Emma's hand as they walked into the old building and headed up the first flight of stairs. She looked around at her surroundings and found herself shuddering when she thought about her kids having to sleep in a place like this. It reminded her of the first apartment her and Punk had shared when they first started getting serious. She must have had a small smile on her face when she thought of that because Punk stopped walking and turned to her. "What are you smiling about, Em?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about how much this building reminds me of the first apartment we had together on the north side," she said quietly.

He found a smile breaking out onto his face as well; not because he remembered how rough it was back then and how far they had come since then, but because he remembered all of the heated love they had made in that small one bedroom apartment. "I see," was all he said before he unlocked the door and let her go in first. She sighed when she looked around the living room—toys **everywhere**.

"Phil...how...why...you know what? Never mind," she mumbled as she started picking toys up and putting them back into the toy box.

"Em, you don't have to do that," he said quietly as he sat down in the chair and watched his wife pick up after him and the kids.

"Yes, I do. Otherwise it will drive me crazy," she mumbled as she took a load of clothes that Jenna had been playing with back down the hallway to her room. She opened the door to Jenna's room and wanted to scream. Not only did Punk let his little girl throw toys everywhere, he had also let her color on the walls. She had to stay calm; this wasn't her problem. Forcing herself to count to ten she grabbed Jenna's suitcase and closed the door behind her. She stopped in the boys' room and picked up their suitcases too.

Punk had made himself comfortable in the chair and was watching television when she came back into the living room with the suitcases. "Are you ready to go?" she asked as she set the suitcases down.

"Not yet," he mumbled with his eyes still glued to the television. She turned to see what he was so engrossed in and held back a scream of frustration—it was a baseball game.

"Really? I thought we had talked about this last night-"

"And I thought we had talked about you not turning into a raging bitch at the drop of a hat," he spat back, his eyes still glued on the television. "Sit down," he said gentler.

Emma reluctantly sat down on the couch, but not before she grabbed Punk's phone when she walked by him; he didn't even notice. At least she could log on to her Facebook or Twitter for a few minutes while she waited for him to finish up his precious baseball game. Logging into her Facebook account, she smiled when she saw that she had a message from someone. She was hoping that it was from Amber or one of her other girlfriends. She hadn't spoken to any of them since Friday night and they would have a lot to catch up on when she finally did get to meet up with them.

Her smile quickly turned to a frown and then a look of frustration when she realized that the message wasn't from a girlfriend, but from Scott. 'What the hell did he want?' she wondered to herself.

_._

_._

_Hey Em,_

_I know you told me that you don't want to talk to me and that I should leave you and Jenna alone, but I can't do that. And you know why. That's cool that you came clean with Punk and told him about our kid, but it doesn't sound like you told him about what else was going on. And don't act dumb you know exactly what I'm talking about. So, I guess, I hate to do this, but you should tell him before I tell do. Lol, I know you well enough to know that you're going to say that I'm lying, but it seems like you forgot about who else knows about me and you and the promises you had made me. I know what you're doing, me and Beth saw you and Punk together last night, holding hands and kissing like nothing was wrong. You were acting like you weren't a slut, who had been sleeping around on her husband for over four years. I don't know what game you're playing with him, but I just wanted to let you know, that pretty soon, the game is going to be over. _

_Talk to you soon,_

_XX_

_Colt_

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He had signed his message with his ring name; a nickname she had always called him when they were getting it on. Shit, she thought to herself. "What's the matter with you?" Punk asked when he looked over at Emma during a commercial break. She looked like she had just seen a ghost. "Emmy, what's the matter?" he asked again before she started crying.

She wiped the tears from her face and logged out of her account, handing his phone back to him while she got up. "Are you ready?" she asked quietly as she grabbed one of the suitcases and he shut the television off and grabbed the other two.

"Yeah...Are you sure you're ok?" he asked again as she opened the door. She just nodded and headed downstairs.

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On the way to Scott's apartment, Punk called him to see if he was actually home. After some heated and strained conversation, Scott agreed to meet them at his place and show them the test results that he had gotten from the clinic three years ago.

After Scott hung up he turned to Beth. "They're on their way over," he said quietly.

"Both of them?" she asked in a surprised voice. She never expected that those two could come through something like still together. She had actually expected Punk to get pissed enough and to have felt betrayed enough, to force the court to move the divorce through the system faster this morning. She had a bad feeling that Emma had used sex, or something similar, to get Punk back on her good side.

"Yeah, they just left his place-"

"For crying out loud. Seriously. What the hell is wrong with Punk? Why can't he see what a little bitch she really is?"

"Hey now. I happen to be in love with that 'little bitch', Beth."

Beth rolled her eyes. "Why, I will never understand. Do you want me to take off?" she asked as she stood up from her chair.

"No, stay here in case I need you. Emma knows that you know about the kid. Well, we both know what Emma thinks," he said with a chuckle.

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"Phil, I don't know if I want to do this," Emma whispered as her and Punk sat in the parking lot of Scott's apartment complex.

"We have to, Em," he said quietly. "I have to see those test results, I can't just take Scott's word for it like you did."

Scott was waiting for them when Punk and Emma knocked on the door; he opened the door quickly and let them in; Punk was sure to keep Emma close by his side. He held in a groan when he saw that Beth was here also. Before him and Emma had gotten married and started having babies, Beth had been bound and determined to hook up with Punk. Fortunately for him, however, Emma had agreed to marry him and promised him forever and a day.

"Let's see them," Punk said quietly as he held Emma's hand and squeezed a little to let her know that she was all right.

Without a word, Scott handed over the paternity test. Punk started reading and let out a soft, "Son of a bitch." He let got of Emma's hand and glared at her. "Let's go," he growled at her.

"Hold on. Emma, you don't have to leave with him; you can stay here and I can drive you home. He knows the truth now." Scott said quietly.

"I don't believe this fucking test, Scott. I'm getting that little girl tested myself. For some reason, I don't trust you anymore-"

"Punk, if there is someone that you shouldn't be able to trust, it's your **wife**," Beth spoke up from her spot on the couch.

"Stay out of this, Beth," Punk said softly to her.

"No. I am not going to stay out of this. What the hell is wrong with you, Punk? She fucking cheated on you and then never told you that little Jenna wasn't your baby. Not only did she cheat on you, she did it with your best friend."

"Stay out of this, Beth," he said again, this time with a little bit more force.

"Um, no. Explain to me, Punk, why you're even standing here next to her right now? Did she suck you off this morning and promise not to do it again? Did she lay down for you and let you have her way with you? Did she agree to let you move back in? Or did she threaten to take your boys away from you? What is it about her that makes her have this...control over you?" Beth shouted.

"She promised me forever and a day. And forever isn't over yet," was all Punk said before he grabbed the test results from Scott, grabbed Emma's hand and stomped out of Scott's apartment.

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The ride back to the house was silent. Punk was fuming over what he had just read in the test results and what Beth had had the balls to say to him about Emma. It's true, that Emma had cheated on him and kicked him out of his own house. But damn it, he loved her, and she was finally coming around to him. There simply had to be a way to work around this. Over and over in his head he thought of scenarios of how this could all play out. They could agree to stop the proceedings and he could move back in, and then they could act like nothing was wrong. He was that little girl's daddy no matter what any test said.

"Talk to me," she whispered beside him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Not now, babe. Let's go home and make an appointment at the clinic for testing and see if we can get it done today yet. Then we'll go pick up Jenna's from your mom's house. I know you want to talk about this right now, but right now, I am so pissed off, I'm afraid that I'm going to say something that I'm going to regret."

A few minutes later they pulled into the driveway of their house and went inside to make some phone calls. Hopefully in a few days, this mess would all be behind them and they could move forward. Until then, they just waited.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Yes, thank you. We'll see you at 3:00," Emma said to the receptionist at the clinic after she had made an appointment for a DNA test for Punk and Jenna. At first there weren't any openings for another two weeks; Punk got on the phone and threw his employment with the WWE around and surprisingly, there just happened to be an opening this afternoon. And instead of the usual two week waiting period for test results, they would be able to get the results in three days.

"Are you coming with me to pick up Jenna?" Emma asked as she looked around for her car keys. It was a little after one o'clock now; she wanted to get to her mom's and to the clinic before the two older kids got home from school. She didn't want to have to explain to them why they were only taking Jenna with them; although Emma was sure that her oldest son knew something was wrong. Jack was a smart boy and could pick up on things easily.

"Somehow I don't think your mother will be too pleased to see me. So...yeah, I'll come with," Punk said with an evil smile. Emma sighed as she thought about how it seemed that Punk would go to great lengths just to irritate her mother. It had always been like, even before they were dating and were just friends. Punk would show up at her mother's house just to hang out and always acted like...well, a punk. It had gotten worse after they were married, There was just a lot of tension between her husband and her mother, and no matter what Emma did to try and ease the tension, nothing ever worked, so she just let it be and hoped that one day one would give up and start acting civil and offer a truce.

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"Daddy!" Jenna screamed from her grandmother's lap in the living room as she saw her mom, along with her dad, come inside the house. She leaped off of Evelyn's lap and took a running leap into Punk's arms. He caught the little girl and she threw her little arms around Punk's neck, holding him close.

Evelyn looked at her daughter, her face a mixture of shock, disgust and disappointment. "Emma, what are you doing here? I didn't think you were picking the children up until the weekend." Evelyn knew she had to at least acknowledge her son in law; she couldn't very well be rude; it wasn't lady like. "Hello, Phil," she said flatly.

"Evelyn. So nice to see you," Phil said sarcastically as he set Jenna down and followed Emma into the living room.

"What...what brings you two by?" Evelyn said cautiously. What she really meant was, 'Emma what are you doing with this asshole and how dare you bring him to my house?'

"We came to pick up Jenna; she has a doctor appointment this afternoon," Emma said quietly as she avoided her mother's eyes.

"Is that so..." Evelyn trailed off. She knew that this 'doctor appointment' was probably an appointment for paternity testing.

"Yeah. So we're gonna take Jenna now. Her appointment is at three," Punk said as he picked up the little girl and looked around her shoes.

"Emma. May I speak to you in the kitchen, please," Evelyn asked in a stern voice.

Emma nodded and followed her mother into the kitchen.

"Emma Sue...what the hell are you doing with him? And why on earth would you bring him here?" Evelyn asked as she leaned against the counter, crossing her arms in front of her.

"He's my husband-"

"He hasn't been your husband for a long time, Emma Sue. What happened? What are you thinking?"

"We're trying to work things-"

"Haven't you put those children through enough lately? How could you even consider dropping the divorce proceedings? Do you have any idea of how your reckless behavior has affected the children?"

Emma was silent. She knew very well what her behavior over the last few months has done to the kids. She lived with that knowledge every day; she just didn't fully realize until this past weekend how horrible it had actually been for the kids. "You can't just decide one day that you want him back and that everything is going to be fine; it doesn't work that way."

"Mom-"

"No, Emma. I am talking. And you will listen. I spent the better part of my Sunday calming Jack down. He told me everything; he told me how he watched his mother and father scream at each other on the front lawn, while he mother practically had no clothes on. He told me how he watched his father beat the shit out of his supposed best friend. He told me how he listened to his father call his mother a whore. He watched a policeman put his father into handcuffs and haul him off to jail! Then, the child asked what his father meant when he said that Jenna needed a test to see if Phil was her father and that maybe he needed to get his sons tested as well."

"Mom-"

"Still not done talking, Emma. I know you made a mistake with that other man and now you're clinging to that punk because you don't want to lose him. You should have thought about that before you started sleeping around; honestly, Emma, what on earth were you thinking? I also know that you've been feeling neglected lately, I know you want to do more with you life than just be a housewife. But you have a very important job that you can't just abandon—you're a mother to three beautiful children. You need to stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about them. That's all," Evelyn stopped talking as she abruptly walked out of the kitchen, leaving Emma alone with her thoughts.

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The paternity testing at the clinic was relatively painless for both Jenna and Punk; they were done testing withing fifteen minutes and were now heading back to Evelyn's. "But, mommy, I don't want to go back to Grandma's. I want to stay here with you and daddy," Jenna pouted from the backseat.

"Jenna, we talked about this. Mommy and daddy are trying to work things out; we have a lot to talk about and we need you to stay at Grandma's house for a couple of more days. Mommy will come pick you up on Friday night and then we'll be together again," Emma said carefully.

"Yeah, kiddo, besides, Jack and Josh would miss you if you're not there," Punk said from the front seat. "What would they do without their little sister? They wouldn't be able to watch Toy Story without you; they'd miss you too much."

After a few more minutes of arguing back and forth, Jenna was finally convinced that she would stay at her grandmother's house while her parents went home and continued to work on their problems. They pulled into Evelyn's driveway just as the school bus was dropping off Jack.

Jack saw his mom pull into the driveway and take Jenna out of the backseat. Then he looked on in shock as he saw his dad get out of the passenger seat. What was dad doing here? Jack thought he would have still been in jail. Poor Jack had a rough day at school; he was finding it hard to concentrate on his school work when all he could think of what was he saw late, late Saturday night. How could his dad say such awful things to his mom? Grandma Evelyn said it was just because that dad was an asshole and had a hard time controlling his mouth when he was upset. "Hi, mom," the little boy said quietly, ignoring his father. He hugged his mom and took his little sister by the hand and started to lead her inside, but Punk stopped him.

"Jack, aren't you going to say hello to your old dad?" Punk said as he watched his son stop in his tracks and turn around to glare at his dad.

"No," was all the boy said before he opened the door and walked inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Well. That went well," Punk muttered to himself. "Told you he was mad at me," he said as he turned to Emma.

"I'm sorry, Punk. This is all my fault..." Emma said quietly as she looked down at the ground.

"You know, Em, normally I would disagree with you, but this time, I have to agree with you. If you just would have kept your legs closed-"

"Oh, hell no. Do not start with me Phil. We have been getting along for the past day or so and now you want to start?" Emma said as she started to raise her voice and glare at her husband.

"I'm just saying that if you would have kept your legs closed and not have slept with my best friend, we wouldn't be in this mess," Punk said as he started to raise his voice as well.

"I can't believe you," she said softly before she turned away from him and started to get in the car.

Punk walked around to the other side of the car, getting in the passenger seat as he said, "Yeah, well, I can't believe you either some days," he muttered as she started the car and backed out of the driveway.

.

.

.

Scott nervously paced back and forth in his apartment. Beth had left a while ago, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He couldn't believe how much shit had happened in just the last few days. He knew that eventually one day his and Emma's secret would come out, but he never expected it to happen like this. He tried to think back to when it all started; but he couldn't remember a time when he didn't really love Emma. She was the one thing in the world that he couldn't have; his buddy Punk had already put a claim on her a long time ago. Scott sat down on the couch with his head in his hands as he thought about the nasty message he had sent her this morning. He knew that it wasn't enough that Punk knew about them sleeping together; he had to threaten her with the other secret she had been holding back from her husband. As much as it sickened him to do it, a small smile came upon his face when he thought about the promise Emma had made him...

.

.

.

"_Emma...Emma...Shit..." Scott moaned into her neck as he finally got his release and she wrapped her long legs around his waist as he groaned in her ear. After a minute or so of heavy breathing and breathless whispers, he finally moved away from her. As soon as he caught his breath, he pulled her close and started kissing gently on her neck, whispering sweet words into her ear. He could tell that she was tensing up, wanting him to move away from her and to let her have some space. She was always like this after they got done fucking; he wanted more than she was willing to give afterward._

"_Hey, why you always gotta try to run away from me when we're done," he murmured into her ear._

"_Because this is wrong, Scott. I know it's wrong, you know it's wrong-"_

"_But yet, you still keep coming back, baby," Scott chuckled. "Emma, it's been almost two years since we started dong this, why is it so hard for you to admit that not only do you like me, you probably even love me. We have freaking kid together-"_

"_Yeah, and I'm married," she said bluntly._

"_You don't seem too concerned about your marriage right now, baby. Admit it to me, Em. I heard you tell me before, I want to hear you say it again," he growled in her ear, causing her to involuntarily shiver when his hot breath hit her ear. "Tell me again. I want to hear you say it..."_

_Emma tried to move away from Scott, and almost succeeded in getting out of the bed; but Scott was too fast and caught her, he threw her back down on the bed and climbed on top of her, pinning her small wrists in his big hands above her head. "Tell me..."_

_Emma shook her head as Scott chuckled. "Damn woman...you told me once before, why won't you tell me again."_

"_Because it's not right," she whispered._

"_I know it's not right, but it feels so fucking good...please, Emma, tell me again..." he whispered as he started nibbling on her neck, making sure to get all the right spots. "Tell me what you're going to do one day..."_

_She finally gave in and told him what he wanted to hear. "I'm going to leave Punk..." she whispered as she closed her eyes in pleasure as Scott started nibbling on her ear lobe._

"_What are you going to do after you leave him..."_

"_Be with you..." she whispered as he loosened his grip on her wrists so she could run his fingers through his hair, pulling him closer to her neck._

"_Why do you want to be with me..."_

"_Because..." she stopped; she couldn't keep doing this, it wasn't right._

"_Tell me..." he murmured as his hands started to wander down to her stomach._

"_Because we're supposed to be together."_

"_Why is that, baby?" he asked as he fingers started wandering below her waist, moving at a horribly slow pace, teasing her._

"_He's not good enough for me. I deserve better..." she whimpered as her breath caught as his fingers started running over her bundle of nerves very slowly, driving her insane._

"_Who do you deserve?"_

_She let out a soft moan as he slipped two fingers inside of her. "You..." she said in a voice barely above a whisper._

"_Love me?" he mumbled as he bent his head down to take one of her perky nipples into his mouth; he teased it slowly with his tongue before he bit gently, causing her to let out a squeak of pleasure._

"_Yes..."_

"_I want to hear you say it, baby..."_

"_I love you, Scott..." she whispered before his mouth crashed down on hers and they began round two._


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Emma and Punk sat in the living room together, neither of them had much to say to each other after the little spat they had had in the car after they had left her mother's house. Emma was refusing to speak to Punk right now because of that rude comment he had made about her keeping legs her closed. It wasn't like she had been sleeping with the whole neighborhood or anything; she had just made a mistake with Scott. A mistake that resulted in the creation of Jenna.

She sat on the couch, absentmindedly flipping through the channels while he sat in a chair and played with his phone. "What are you doing tonight?" she asked quietly, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence between them.

"I don't know. Thinking about taking a nap then maybe hit the gym later."

She rolled her eyes at him. "It's five in the afternoon, are you really going to take a nap right now?"

"Yes. What are you doing tonight? Making me some dinner?"

She stood up from the couch, "Going to get ready," she said as she started for the stairs.

"Get ready for what?" he called after her. "Kitchen's the other way, baby."

"Going out tonight."

"With who?"

She sighed, stopped and turned to face him. "Why does it matter?"

"Um. Because I'm your husband. Duh."

"It shouldn't matter who I'm going out with tonight, Phil."

"Ah, here we go again. For the last day and a half I was Punk, now you're back to bitch mode and calling me Phil."

"Please don't start fighting with me," she requested quietly.

He took a few steps towards her. "Why don't you want to fight?" he asked just as quietly. "Used to turn you on when I would pick a fight with you."

"I'm tired of fighting with you, Phil. I made a mistake, I really fucked up, I lied to you, and I filed for divorce. What do we have to fight about? I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. But you and I both know that no matter what those test results say later this week, we're still going through with the divorce because it doesn't matter how much I apologize and maybe Scott really didn't lie about the results and that little girl isn't yours."

Punk shook his head. "No, we're not. I've spent the last six months trying to convince you to not give up on us; I'm not going to stop now. Despite everything that's happened in the last couple of days, I still freaking love you. And I love our kids. It doesn't matter what those results say, Jenna is still my baby girl." He walked over to her and pushed her bangs out of her eyes. "You promised me forever and a day, and forever isn't over yet," he whispered. "Do you remember when you promised me that, Emmy?"

As much as she wanted to just push him away and be done with this conversation, she found herself nodding and thinking back to that day...

.

.

.

"_I can't believe we just did that..." Emma murmured into Punk's neck. He pulled back and smiled at her. They had just gotten back from the courthouse where a Justice of the Peace had married them in a quick ceremony. The only other two people present was Punk's friend Scott and her sister Melanie. Her mother had refused to come, stating that she couldn't stand to watch her daughter throw her life away by marrying someone like him._

"_I know...Mrs. Brooks..." he trailed off as he captured her mouth in a passionate kiss; it was time for the second round of lovemaking. Tonight was the end to a perfect day; he had married his Emmy Sue. She was his and he was hers for now and forever._

_As he hovered above her, placing soft kisses on her collarbone, he stopped and brought his face close to hers. "Emmy...I need you to promise me something..."_

"_Anything," she whispered._

"_Promise to love me?"_

"_Always..."_

"_Forever?" he whispered._

"_Forever and a day..." she whispered back as she pulled him closer to her._

"_I'm holding you to that, Emmy. No matter what happens, no matter where life is going to take us, it's going to be me and you. Forever and a day. I'm never going to stop loving you..."_

"_I promise..." she whispered as she gazed into his eyes. "Forever and a day..."_

_._

_._

_._

"You do remember..." he asked as he watched the expression on her face.

"Yeah, I remember," was all she said before she headed upstairs to get changed for a night out with her girlfriends.

.

.

.

With a disappointed looking on his face, Punk walked back over to the chair and sat down. He put his hands in head; what did he have to do to get through to this woman? They had been getting along so well yesterday and part of today, then he had to pick a fight with her. Why couldn't she just admit that they belonged together and that he wasn't going anywhere; no matter what happened. He had to get out of here; it was killing him to be in the same house with her when he she didn't want him around right now. Without telling her that he was leaving, he locked the door behind him and headed down the street to the bus station. He needed time to think.

.

.

After a quick stop at his shitty apartment to change into his workout clothes, he headed to the gym. As he started his routine, he put his headphones on and tried to get lost in his thoughts. Unfortunately for Punk, his thoughts always wandered back to his beautiful Emma.

.

.

_Punk's flight had just landed in Chicago; he had been overseas on tour for the past two weeks and he missed his wife and kids terribly. He stopped at a floral shop on his way out of the airport. He smiled as he thought about the look on Emma's face when he showed up a day early with flowers in hand._

_Emma was trying to convince the kids that it was past eight o'clock and that they had to go to bed. She desperately needed ten minutes alone. She had been a nervous wreck all week after she had visited the lawyer's office on Monday. Scott had finally convinced her to file for divorce. After everything that had happened with her and Scott, she had finally gave in to him and had agreed to divorce her husband. That was the easy part; the hard part was going to be telling Punk that it was over and she wanted out._

_She was just about to scream out loud in frustration when the front door swung open and her mouth dropped when she saw who was standing there. "Daddy!" Josh and Jenna screamed as they ran full force into their father's arms, practically knocking them over. Emma watched in disbelief as her husband stood in the doorway, hugging two of his three children with one arm and the arm held a huge bouquet of beautiful red roses. Punk let go of his two younger kids and pulled his oldest in for a manly hug. Punk managed to get in the door and shut it behind him all while listening to his kids babble and giggle about everything that had happened to them in the last two weeks and what kind of fun they were going to have now that daddy was home. Emma was still standing there by the couch in shock. This threw her whole plan out the window. She still hadn't worked up enough nerve to tell him that she had filed for divorce, she was going to work on what she was going to say tonight and practice it tomorrow before he came home. _

_After catching up with the kids for another half an hour, Punk and Emma managed to get the kids up to their bedroom and tuck them in for the night. Emma watched Punk tuck Jenna in last. "Good night, princess," he whispered as he kissed her forehead and slowly walked out of her room. Emma felt like her heart was going to break. She had been holding in the secret of Jenna's conception since the child was six months old; she had just turned three a few weeks ago. Emma wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be able to keep it from him. Part of the reason she wanted the divorce was, yes, she wanted to be with Scott and hold him to all of the promises he had made her, the other part wanted to push Punk away so she wouldn't hurt him by hearing the awful truth that his wife had been hiding from him._

"_Now...Your turn..." he whispered as he pulled her in close for a hug and started backing them up towards their bedroom. They had two weeks of love making to catch up on and he intended to start right now. As he started kissing her neck and unbuttoning her shirt, she started to panic. She had to do this now. "Punk...stop..." she whispered in between kisses._

_He shook his head, "Nope, need to feel you," he mumbled into her ear. She pushed him away. "Whoa. What's the matter, Emmy?" he asked with a confused look on his face._

"_We need to talk," she said quietly as she sat down on the edge of the bed._

_It was never good when a woman said 'we need to talk', Punk thought to himself as he sat down next to her. "What's the matter?" he asked softly._

"_I want a divorce," she whispered._

_He looked at his wife in disbelief. "I'm sorry, Emmy, can you repeat that?"_

"_I want a divorce," she whispered again, still not looking at him._

_He placed a hand on her chin and forced her to look at him. "What the fuck are you talking about?" he growled. _

"_This isn't working. I want out," she whispered while avoiding his eyes._

"_Damn it. Look at me, Emmy. What are you talking about? Why the hell would you want a divorce?" he said as he started to raise his voice._

"_I just want out."_

"_Bullshit. Tell me why."_

_Emma moved away from him and stood up. "I already filed the papers. They're on the kitchen table," she said quietly before she walked out of the room and headed downstairs. Punk followed her. He had to remind himself to not start raising his voice; his kids were sleeping. _

_He caught her arm in the living room and turned her towards him. "Why?" he asked again._

"_It's over, Phil. I just...I want out. This isn't working anymore. You're gone all the time and I'm stuck here with the kids...and...I just want out."_

_._

_._

_._

Punk shook his head as he thought about that horrible night. The months following that night weren't any better. His beautiful and loving wife had turned into a cold-hearted bitch all of the sudden and he couldn't figure out why. She wasn't talking to him, so he had no idea what he had done wrong and why she wanted 'out'. For the entire time during the separation, he still didn't know why. Until late Saturday night when she finally told him the awful secret she had been keeping from him. The word betrayal didn't even begin to describe what he felt when she told him. He felt betrayed, not only from her, but from his best friend as well. Despite everything that had happened, he still wanted to be with her. Call him crazy, call him a fool; he called himself a man desperately trying to hold onto the woman he loved.

.

.

.

Punk and Emma stayed away from each other until the test results came back. On Thursday morning, Punk showed up on Emma's front door step bright and early, ready to call the clinic to see if the results were ready. "Morning..." he mumbled as she let him inside the house. She rolled her eyes and headed back into the living room to resume her laying on the couch. She had gone out last night with her girlfriends and actually had just gotten back a few hours ago and wanted nothing more than to just lay down and sleep. Punk watched her backside with interest as she walked away from him; she had on these little gray shorts and a long t-shirt. Her brown hair was down and hanging in her face. He could tell right away that she was hungover and that made him want to annoy her, just so she could see how awful the effects of alcohol really was. Maybe she would learn her lesson.

She snuggled up on the couch and wrapped a blanket around her, intent on going back to sleep. He sat down next to her and pulled her close to him. She let out a soft groan of protest and he kissed the top of her head. "We have a big day today, Emmy," he whispered. She nodded. "You should take a shower and get dressed."

She shook her head. "No...too tired," she mumbled as she closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder. Punk sighed and looked down at his wife; she had already passed out. The things he did for love, he thought to himself as he settled back on the couch and was content to let her sleep on his shoulder for a while. He grabbed the remote for the television and turned it on, making sure to keep the volume down low so he wouldn't wake her. As he watched her sleep, he was reminded about how much he loved this woman; and no matter what she had put him through, he was going to keep loving her. That's all there was to it.

.

.

.

A few hours later that morning, the phone rang. Glancing at the caller id, he saw that it was the clinic. They were probably calling with the test results. Emma was still sleeping soundly on the couch beside him. Should he wake her up? Deciding that he wanted to hear the results alone, he walked into the kitchen and answered the phone.

"Yes, Mr. Brooks. This is Abigail from Dr. Smithfield's office. I have your paternity test results from Monday."

Punk swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat. This was it. He was going to find out if Jenna was his or not. "All right. Go ahead," he managed to stutter.

"Based on the samples from yourself and from Jenna Sue. It has been determined that we are 99.9% positive that you are the father of Jenna. Congratulations."

Punk let out the breath he was holding and remembered to thank the nurse before he hung up the phone. Jenna was his. His little girl was really his. Forgetting for a moment that he needed to go kick Scott's ass for lying to him, he rushed out into the living room and jumped on the couch. "Emma. Emmy!" he said loudly as he shook her shoulder to try and wake her. Very slowly she started to wake up.

"What?" she mumbled as she struggled to open her eyes.

"She's mine!" he said with excitement written all over his face. "She's really mine."

A small smile broke out onto her face. "Thank God," she mumbled as she let him pull her in for a big hug. Inside she was ecstatic that her husband was actually the father of her youngest; she was starting to realize what else this meant though. It meant that Scott had been lying to her for the last three years and that she was going to have to confront him about it. It also meant that now she had to make a decision about whether or not to stop the divorce proceedings and go back to the suffocating life she had been living for the past eight years, or if she still really wanted 'out'.

"What happens to us," she said softly, not fully believing that those words had just come out of her mouth.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know..." he said softly as he moved away from her but his eyes never left hers. While finding out Jenna was really his was a huge relief to the couple, they still had to deal with Emma's infidelity. Was their marriage really strong enough to overcome that?


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"Do you still want to be with me, Emma?" Punk asked warily. He now knew that she had been feeling neglected over the years and that it didn't seem like she was much more than just his wife and the mother of his kids. He had wished that had all that had been bothering her; but at least now Jenna's paternity was behind them. He didn't want to stop the divorce proceedings just to have her live her life frustrated with him and eventually growing to resent him and the kids.

"I don't know..." she said softly as she looked down at her hands. "We have to deal with what happened with Scott, but I was serious too when I told you that I'm finding the housewife life suffocating, Punk. I'm more than just a wife and mom, but the problem is...I don't know what the hell I should be."

"I know, Emmy. I just don't want to get back together and then a few more years down the road, you want a divorce again. I can't go through this again; our kids can't go through this again. I might have just fucked Jack up permanently after what he saw last Saturday night. I feel like shit about that and I don't know how to fix it or if I even can fix it."

"I feel bad too. Jack saw everything and then asked my mom about everything. She's pissed as hell at me for having to explain what happened that night. Josh doesn't understand why we can't get along and why you can't live with us. And then there's Jenna. Well, Jenna's still so little and doesn't fully understand what's going on, but I know she's sad that you don't live here with us anymore."

They sat in silence, side by side on the couch for a few minutes. "Let me move back in," he whispered. "Emmy, I don't want to lose you. The world might think that I'm a fucking idiot for still wanting you, but I can't lose you. I just can't. Whatever you want or need, I'll get it for you. Whatever you want to do with your life, I'll figure out a way for you to do it. I just...I can't stop loving you. I really can't. When I proposed, I was dead serious when I said that I didn't want to live my life without you. I want you. I need you. Please, Emma, don't give up on me."

Emma nodded. She knew how hard it was for Punk right now to admit these deep feelings; the sensitive side of him was one that anyone rarely saw, even his wife, but when it came out, you had better pay attention. "I don't know. It's going to be confusing for the kids."

"I'd rather have them confused for a couple of weeks than all fucked up because mom and dad can't get along. Emmy, those kids needs **both** us of. I know my travel schedule is fucked up, and that I'm not home a lot, but I'm living my dream. And the money I make from that dream, keeps us in this nice house-"

"Hold on. It's never been about the money, Punk," Emma said defensively. "Hell no, it's never been about that. I could care less if you were a cook at the damn Waffle House, if that was your dream, I would support you no matter what. That's what it's about—your dream. I've supported you since day one. I don't care about the money or the house or the car, what I care about is you being happy." With a surprised smile on his face, Punk pulled Emma closer to him and they sat close together in a comfortable silence for a few minutes; both of them lost in their own thoughts about what had happened.

"Today's Thursday, I have to head back out on the road Sunday night," Punk said quietly.

"We have one more weekend to figure this out then," Emma said as she moved away from Punk and headed upstairs. She needed a shower and five minutes to herself to think. And then she had to find Scott and slap the shit out him for lying to her for the last three years.

.

.

.

Scott had just unlocked the door to his apartment when his phone beeped with a message. He wanted to smile when he saw who it was from, but at the same time, he was scared shitless. It was a message from Emma, saying that they had gotten the paternity test back on Jenna this morning and that she wanted to stop over and talk to him about it.

Without thinking, he dialed Beth's number and begged her to come over. She moaned and groaned about having to deal with his bullshit today, but eventually gave in and promised to come over in a little bit.

.

.

"Emma, I don't want you to go over there by yourself," Punk said sternly. His wife had just told him that she wanted to go over to Scott's and that she had fully intended to slap the shit out of him. "You're not going without me."

Emma sighed and rolled her eyes. "Why can't you let me do this by myself?"

Punk didn't say anything and his gaze shifted to the floor. It clicked for her. "You don't trust me, do you? You think I'm going over to his place, not to confront him, but to let him know that the jig is up and that you're on to us? You are fucking unbelievable!"

"Damn it, that's not what I was thinking at all. Fucking calm down..." he mumbled as he tried to figure out how to get his thoughts out. "I just don't want you to go over there by yourself. I want to come with. I got a few things to say to Scotty myself."

"Fine. I'll be in the car," she said before she stomped out of the living room and slammed the front door behind her, leaving Punk to wonder why he was in love with such a difficult woman.

.

.

.

The ride over to Scott's apartment was quiet, except for the sound of Punk grinding his teeth and mumbling to himself. "Stop. You are going to drive me insane with your grumbling," Emma said softly as she pulled into the parking lot of Scott's apartment complex.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he watched her park the car and turn it off. "You ready to do this?" he asked with his hand on the door handle. She shook her head; she was never going to be ready to do this. Ever.

A few minutes later, the couple found themselves in front of Scott's door; neither one of them wanted to be the one to knock. Finally, Emma just swallowed the fear that she was feeling and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Scott opened the door. There was a smile on his face and he whispered, "Hey, you," before the smile quickly disappeared when he saw his former lover's husband, and his former best friend, standing behind her.

"Can we come in?" Emma said softly as Scott moved away from the door and Punk followed Emma. Before Scott could close the door, Punk drew his fist back and sucker punched Scott in the jaw, sending him backwards into Emma.

"What the fuck, Punk?" Scott shouted.

"Let's get one thing straight, Colton. You are to never, and I mean ever, come near my wife again," Punk growled at Scott, who was holding his jaw, trying to rub away the throbbing pain he was feeling right now.

"Punk, stop," Emma interjected. "This is why I didn't want you to come with. I knew you were going to do this."

"Em-" Before Punk could get the words out to try and reason with his wife, another voice entered the room.

"Punk. Punk. Punk. It's a good thing you came with; otherwise, your little wifey here, might have just forgotten whatever bullshit promises she made you and laid down for Colton again. I'm sure that was what she had in mind, anyways, wasn't it, Emma," Beth snarled at Emma as she came out of the kitchen and stood next to Scott.

Emma rolled her eyes; she never cared for Beth. "Shut up, Beth Not even sure why you're sticking your nose into my business in the first place," Emma mumbled. Before Emma knew what was happening, Beth had wrapped her hands around Emma's slender neck and was pushing her against the wall. As Beth lifted her up and slammed her head against the wall, Emma desperately tried to kick her legs and make contact with Beth so she could get down; Beth was trying to choke the breath out of her. "You don't deserve Punk. You never have and you never will. You trapped him, Emma with those damn kids. He shouldn't be with you; he should be with someone who knows the business; not some pretty Barbie doll who spreads her legs for anyone walking-" Beth was cut off by Punk grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her off his wife.

"What the fuck is your problem, Beth?" Punk yelled at her.

"My problem? My problem? My problem is your wife, Punk. I don't like her. In fact, I hate her. You could do so much better than her, but no, you keep insisting that she's the most perfect woman in the world. Oh, she promised me forever and a day, and forever isn't over yet. Please. Do you even realize how much a douche bag you sound like when you believe her bullshit?" Beth spat at him, her blue eyes flashing with anger.

"I don't know what you're talking about,Beth. Emma is my wife. We have a family together, why is that so hard for you to understand. I've told you this before: I don't love you, I love Emma, and I'm always going to love Emma. There is no me and you. There never will be a Punk and Beth. It's Punk and Emma! You need to get that through your thick skull!" Punk shouted at her.

"Why are you saying that to her, Punk? What do you mean you've told her this before?" Emma asked as she rubbed the spot on her neck that Beth had grabbed roughly.

For a split second, Beth looked hurt; then she looked pissed. "Punk, how much of what happened between Scott and Emma do you really know about?" She asked as she started pacing around the room, while Emma cowered behind her husband; Beth was scaring the shit out of her right now and she just wanted to grab Punk's hand and run, but she knew her husband well enough to know that he never back down from a fight.

"I know more than I need to know. I know my best friend betrayed me and seduced my wife into bed and then **lied** to her about Jenna's paternity test," Punk spat out.

Beth chuckled. "Oh, Punk. There is so much more to it than just that. I suppose Perfect Emma just told you that her and Scott had sex a couple of times and then when they almost got caught they stopped? That couldn't be farther from the truth."

"What is she talking about, Em?" Punk asked as he turned his attention to his petrified wife. "Did something else happen with Scott?"

Emma shook her head, her brown eyes were starting to well up with tears. She should have stopped this a long time ago, she didn't mean to hurt Punk this way. "She's lying, Punk," Beth said softly. "How can you still want to be married to someone who can't tell you the truth? Scott...tell our buddy Punk what Emma promised you," Beth said with an evil smile on her face. If Punk didn't finalize his divorce after what Scott was going to tell him, then the man truly was an idiot, Beth thought to herself.

Scott was refusing to look at anyone; this had gone far enough, he didn't want to break Punk and Emma up anymore. "Scott!" Beth shrieked at him.

"Before Emma filed for divorce from you, she promised to marry me once everything was final. She was going to try and get everything and leave you with jack shit. We were going to raise the kids together, have some more of our own and..." Scott stopped talking when he realized that Punk's eyes had glazed over with hate.

"Shut the fuck up," was all Punk said before he grabbed Emma's arm and made her look at him. "Is this true? Were you going to screw me in the divorce? How long had you been planning on doing this, Emma?" he growled at her.

"We had planned this a couple months after Jenna was born. She didn't want to be married to you..." Scott said softly. "I love her. I know it's wrong and it's real shitty of me to be in love with my best friend's wife, but I can't help it, man. Me and Emma have something special."

"Correction. You two **had **something special. You don't have anything anymore. Whatever bullshit story you and Beth are trying to come up with right, I don't believe it. I have no reason to believe a damn thing that comes out of your mouth anymore, Colton." And with that Punk grabbed his wife's arm and they walked out of the apartment together.

"Punk! Think about what you're doing! You're a damned idiot if you take her back after this," Beth called after him.

Punk stopped in his tracks, and turned to glare at Beth and Scott. "Well, then, I guess I'm damned idiot. Stay the fuck out of our lives. Both of you," Punk spat as he slammed the door behind him.

He took a deep breath and looked at Emma. "Home. Now."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

The walk out to the car was silent; Punk had taken the car keys from Emma. She was still shaken up from what had just happened to her because of Beth, so she had no problem letting him take control of the situation. Instead of heading back to the house, Punk drove over to the shitty little apartment he had been staying at since Emma had kicked him out six months ago. "What are we doing here?" she asked softly, a little confused; she had assumed he was just going to come home with her.

"We need to talk, Em. I need to know the truth. We've been through a lot in the past week, and we're making some real good progress, but I need to know the truth; were you planning on hooking up with Scott after our divorce was final?" he asked without looking at her, instead choosing to focus his gaze on the steering wheel.

As much as it pained Emma to do it, she nodded. "I'm so sorry, Punk," she whispered as her eyes filled with tears.

"Why?" he whispered. "What did I do to make you so unhappy? What did I do that make you turn to Scott? He was my best friend. You had promised me...Making love...that was something only you and I do...I..." he stuttered as he trailed off as he thought about the night he took her virginity when she was only 18 years old.

_._

_._

_._

_**Tonight you're mine completely You give your love so sweetly Tonight the light of love is in your eyes But will you love me tomorrow? **  
><em>

_Punk groaned as his girlfriend turned the station on the radio. Again. She had this horrible habit of switching the station from his heavy metal station to her 'oldies' station whenever she felt like. It was a good thing she was so hot, he would thrown any other girl out the door for touching his radio. But Emma was different; there was something about her that drew him to her. Maybe it was because she was just like him—wild and didn't care what anyone else thought. Maybe it was because her mother, Evelyn, had banned Emma from seeing him. Whatever it was, he liked it._

_They were sitting on his bed listening to the radio on a Saturday night, just the two of them. She had stolen his Misfits sweatshirt again and was refusing to give it back. He really didn't mind when she stole it; because when he did get it back, it would smell like her perfume, and that scent drove him insane._

_She was lying on her back looking at the ceiling and singing softly to herself when Punk crawled over and hovered above her before leaning down to capture her mouth in a sweet kiss. They had been 'dating' now for a few months and hadn't gone very far in the make-out department yet; he knew she was a virgin and promised that he would take it slow with her. But, honestly, when your girlfriend looks like Emma does, how long could she possibly expect him to wait?_

_He broke the kiss and starting leaving a trail of soft kisses across her cheek and over to her ear._

_**Is this a lasting treasure Or just a moment's pleasure? Can I believe the magic of your sighs? Will you still love me tomorrow? **  
><em>

_As soon as his teeth found her ear lobe, things started to heat up; her contented sighs were enough to drive him insane. Very slowly he made her sit up and lifted his sweatshirt off of her, leaving her sitting up with nothing but a very thin white tank top. He held back a groan and laid her back down, his mouth exploring all of the newly exposed skin..._

_**Tonight with words unspoken You say that I'm the only one But will my heart be broken When the night meets the morning sun?**  
><em>

_Things continued to heat up, clothes were being discarded faster than before. He started to pull her jeans down when she stopped him. He sighed, knowing that he had gone too fast and now she was going to leave. "Slow down for a second..." she whispered as she ran her fingers through his long hair. "I need to know something, Punk..." she said softly as she pulled him closer for a kiss, with her eyes still closed after the kiss broke. "Are you still going to love me tomorrow morning?" she asked as she opened her eyes and bit her bottom lip, looking into his eyes, trying to figure out his level of sincerity._

_He nodded. "Yeah...there's something about you, Emmy...that I really like..." he whispered as he felt her hand guide his hand back down to her hips and started to help him pull her jeans all the way off._

_**I'd like to know that your love Is love I can be sure of So tell me now, and I won't ask again Will you still love me tomorrow? **  
><em>

_After a few more minutes of intense kissing and touching, Punk slowly rolled off of her and reached over to the dresser beside his bed and opened the top drawer, never taking his eyes off of her. She looked terrified as she laid in his bed, covered up with a sheet and biting her bottom lip. He gave her a small smile as he found what he was looking for in the drawer and came back onto the bed._

_He slipped the condom on, using one of her hands to help him, and kissed her deeply on the mouth, taking what he wanted from her before he pulled away and settled in between her legs. "Are you sure?" he whispered._

_She nodded and closed her eyes. He bent his head down to her neck and kissed gently while he pushed himself in; he stopped when she cried out and buried her head in his shoulder. "Emmy...Emmy Sue..." he whispered softly as he started moving..._

_._

_._

_._

.

Emma shrugged her shoulders. "You need to answer me, Emma. If you want any chance of saving this marriage, I need to know what I did that was so wrong-"

"It wasn't you, Punk! For God's sake, it wasn't you. It was all me. I got caught up in the 'woe is me' bullshit after you hit it big and I was lonely. I spent all day raising your kids and changing diapers. This isn't how my life was supposed to turn out!"

Punk was shocked at her sudden outburst; but he let her continue, they were finally getting somewhere. "Scott just happened to be there at the right time; to be honest, it wouldn't have mattered who showed up that night. I was drinking and lonely and depressed and I missed you. He said all the right words and did all the things that I was missing out on from you; I missed you so fucking much, Punk. I hated being home alone while you were out on the road. I hated the thought of all of those fangirls screaming your name at the arenas. I hated myself for even thinking that you would find someone prettier than me and jump into bed with them-"

"I would **never** do that, Emmy," he interjected.

"I know, and that's why I feel like shit about this. You would never do that to me, so what the hell gave me the right to do it to you?"

"Do you think there's a chance of saving our marriage, Em?" Punk asked softly after a few moments of silence. "There are other people we have to think about if we get back together and it doesn't work out; our kids, Emma. I don't want to put them through this again. They don't deserve this. Jack, Josh and Jenna...Emmy, they don't need to live their lives like this because of our bullshit."

"I know, God, Punk, I know..." Emma said as she started weeping softly. Without thinking about it, Punk moved closer to his wife in the front seat and wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry.

"What can I do to make you happy?" he murmured into her hair. "I want my old Emmy Sue back; I don't like this bitchy, cheating, lying Emma. I want my Emmy..."

Hearing Punk call her Emmy Sue made her start to cry harder. "Don't leave me, Punk. I need you just as much as the kids do; I made a huge ass mistake and I'm so sorry. I swear, it will never happen again," she sobbed softly into his chest.

Punk could never stand to see her cry.

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.

After a quick trip upstairs to his apartment, Punk came back down with an overnight bag. Without saying a word, he threw his bag into the backseat and drove Emma back to the house. He wasn't going to leave her; not when she was like this—an emotional wreck.

It was late afternoon by the time they got back to the house. Today was Thursday; Evelyn would be dropping the children off tomorrow after school. Punk was leaving on Sunday night for two weeks; a decision had to be made.

Emma was busying herself in the kitchen making Punk dinner, when he crept into the kitchen and leaned against the door frame. He watched her from behind while she cooked. He took in her long legs in just a pair of skimpy shorts and one of his old t-shirts. Her brown hair was pulled back; she still took his breath away. Very slowly he walked into the kitchen and placed his hands on her hips. "Emmy..." he whispered. She put down what she was doing and turned to face him. "I know it's been a long week and you're tired of talking about this; but I gotta know...do you still love me and do you want to make this work?" he asked as his hazel eyes searched hers, looking for a small sign that she still loved him and didn't want to leave him. She nodded. "I need to hear you say, Emmy," he leaned down and whispered in her ear. "I love you, Emma, I love you so fucking much it hurts..."

"I love you, Punk," she mumbled into his chest, holding on to him for dear life. "I'm so sorry...about everything... Don't give up on me..."

.

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.

They spent Thursday night on the couch together, wrapped up in a blanket, watching movies. She dozed off around ten o'clock that night. A small smile appeared on Punk's face as he watched his wife sleep. It was hard to believe that it was just last week that they were at each others throats about something; it was hard to believe that it was only six days ago that he was reduced to bullying her into letting him see the kids for the weekend. So much had happened—they fought, he kissed her without her slapping him, they made love, they had actually spent Saturday afternoon and night together as civilized adults for the sake of their kids. He learned her awful secret late Saturday night and found out that his best friend had betrayed him. They spent four days on pins and needles waiting to find out if he was the father of Jenna; thankfully she was. Today he had confronted his best friend about sleeping with his wife, and had basically cut the guy that he trained with in the indies, and considered his best friend, his children adored him and called him Uncle Scott, out of his life.

And look where they are now: snuggled up on the couch together. She had made him dinner tonight and had let the real Emma come back. He was going to eventually wake her up and they would go upstairs and sleep in their bed. Together. And tomorrow morning he would call the lawyer's office and cancel the divorce papers. Evelyn would drop the kids off tomorrow after Jack got done with school. Their little family would be together again. Emma had begged him not give up on her; and he fully intended to keep that promise to her. They were meant to be; they didn't need luck, they had fate.

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.

Around midnight, Punk woke Emma up and they went upstairs. He sat on the edge of the bed and watched her undress. He bit his bottom lip as his lust for her was starting to consume him. She slipped on a soft pink nightgown that barely went down to her knees. He held out his arms and beckoned for her to come closer to him. She stood in front of him and he wrapped his arms around his waist, resting his face on her midsection. "Emmy..." he mumbled as she played with his hair. He looked up and saw her blue eyes filling with tears. "Are we all right now?" he whispered. She nodded. "If I stay tonight, are you still going to love me tomorrow?"

He reached up and wiped the tears that were streaming down her face away with his thumb. She nodded. "Forever..." she said softly as she leaned down to kiss him.

"And a day..." he whispered back.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Punk woke before Emma the next morning and headed downstairs to call the attorney's office while she was still sleeping. He was able to get an appointment later this morning. He started the coffee pot and crept back upstairs to wake his sleeping Emmy. For a few minutes he watched her sleep before he slowly crawled back into bed with her; she must have sensed that he had come back to bed because she immediately snuggled back up to him, threw an arm around his waist, and let out a contented sigh.

"Emmy..." he whispered as he played with her hair. "You have to get up, we need to go see the lawyer in an hour..."

"No...sleeping..." she mumbled as she squeezed him tighter.

Punk chuckled. "Emmy...we have a lot to do today; the kids are coming home." Her eyes popped open at the mention of her kids; she had missed them terribly this week and was excited to have them back. She was also nervous to tell them that daddy was moving back in; not so much for Josh and Jenna, they would be over the moon, but she was nervous about telling Jack. The poor boy had witnessed his parents at their lowest moment, and Emma had hoped that her mother had smoothed everything over and explained what had happened.

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The appointment at the attorney's office last longer than they both thought it was. Apparently stopping a divorce wasn't as easy as just ripping up the papers. Because there was children involved, Punk and Emma would have to attend marriage counseling for six months per the court's orders. The attorney asked several times if this is what they really wanted; he had been shocked when Punk called this morning and said that they wanted to call it off. There had been many, many heated arguments between the estranged husband and wife in his office; it was just a little bit hard to believe that it only took a week of them together, talking, yelling, screaming, making love and confessing to decide that they had wanted to give it another chance.

On the ride back to the house, Punk asked to stop by his apartment. "I need to get my travel stuff for when I leave on Sunday," he said softly, not meeting Emma's eyes. He wasn't sure how she was going to react to that; they had just gotten back together for good last night and now he was leaving in a few days and would be gone for two weeks.

Emma followed him upstairs and into his bedroom. She sat on the edge of the bed and watched him gather his wrestling gear and clothes for his two week tour. "Come with me," he said softly as his back was turned to her and he was putting his boots in his duffel bag.

"What?" she asked. He had said something so softly that she didn't hear him correctly; it almost sounded like he had just asked her to come on the road with him,

He walked over to the bed and sat down beside her. "Come with me on the road this week, Emma," he said as he pushed her bangs out of her eyes.

She shook her head. "I can't do that, Punk, and you know that."

"Please?" he asked; she let out a giggle at the sight of her rough and tough husband begging for something.

"You know I can't Punk. The kids need me at home..." she said softly as she put her arms around his neck and started playing with the hair on the nape of his neck.

"Let's bring them with..."

"Punk, you know we can't do that. Jack and Josh have school."

"It's gonna be hell not having you with me everyday after everything we just went through, Emmy. Right now things feel like they're so up in the air."

She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. "I know..."

"I don't know if it's a good time for me to leave right now."

"You have to. You have a job to do, Punk."

"Yeah, but how did it end up that my job is more important than my family?"

"I don't know..." Emma replied softly. She knew that the only thing her husband ever wanted to do with his life was wrestle. She promised herself a long time ago that she would never interfere in that dream. She wasn't going to break that promise now.

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The couple made it back to the house after a brief make out session and were surprised to see Emma's mother already sitting in the driveway with the kids. Emma pulled up to the curb and smiled as she could already hear little Jenna shrieking her name. She barely made it on to the front lawn before she was practically knocked down by the little girl who was clinging to her legs and had secured herself in some sort of death grip. The only thing that could break that hold was the fact that her daddy was suddenly standing next to her mom. Her little mouth dropped open, "Daddy!" she screeched as she let go of her mom and flung herself into Punk's arms. He chuckled as he held the little girl close. "Missed me, princess?" She nodded as she buried her little face into his neck.

Emma was watching the interaction between the two when Josh came tumbling out of his grandmother's car and ran full speed at his mom. He stopped short of knocking her over, grinned and wrapped his arms around her legs. "Mama..." he mumbled. She picked the little boy up and hugged him hard. "I missed you, buddy. Did you have a good time at grandma's house?" He nodded his head before she set him down so he could tackle Punk to the ground.

Emma watched Punk, Josh, and Jenna hug and talk animatedly about the kids' adventures this week. There was one child missing: Jack. Emma looked over to Evelyn's car and saw her oldest boy standing solemnly next to his grandmother while it looked like she was talking softly to him, trying to convince him to go say hello to his parents. Every once in a while, the little boy would shake his head and glare in his father's direction. Emma sighed as she started over to the driveway.

"Hey, Jack...how was school this week?" Emma asked as her son obediently came over and hugged his mom.

"All right..." he mumbled.

"Jack..." his grandmother warned.

"What?" Emma asked, looking at her mother confused.

"Perhaps we should go inside and chat," Evelyn said as she handed Jack his backpack and the boy followed her inside.

Jack sat down on the couch next to Evelyn; Emma sat down in the recliner and looked over at her shoulder at the front door opening up and Punk walked in with Josh and Jenna talking at the same time a mile a minute to their dad. "Mommy! Guess what? Daddy's moving back in!" the little girl said excitedly.

"Yeah, daddy's moving back in and he's gonna sleep here when he's not wrestling and he said he's gonna take us to the Cubs game! And that maybe after school is out for summer, we could come on the road with him!" Josh added as he jumped up and down with excitement.

"Why is dad moving back in?" Jack asked his mom softly. "Dad said some real mean things to you, mom."

Emma sighed, "I know, Jack, but dad and I worked everything out. We're going to be fine."

"But, mom, he called you that awful word and then he hit Uncle Scott."

Punk interrupted. "Jack-"

"Phil, listen to what the boy has to say," Evelyn interrupted Punk, then turned to the two little ones. "Josh and Jenna. Please go put your suitcases away." The two little ones looked at each other and then at Punk; unsure if they should leave the room right now. What if they came back down and daddy was gone? They reluctantly grabbed their little suitcases and headed upstairs to their bedrooms.

"Jack, tell your mom and dad what you told me last night," Evelyn said softly, reaching over to hold the boy's hand.

Jack looked down at his feet then over at his grandmother. "Do I have to?" he whispered.

Evelyn nodded and prodded Jack to speak. "I don't want dad to live here anymore," he said softly.

"Why not?" Emma spoke up, concerned that what Jack had saw last Saturday night really had traumatized him.

"Because I don't want dad to yell at mom anymore, and I don't want mom to yell at dad anymore. And I don't want to see Jenna and Josh cry because you two don't get along. And I don't want the kids at school to look at me weird anymore. And I don't want dad here one day and then gone the next," the words rushed out of his mouth while he stared at the floor. "And I don't ever want to here dad call mom that awful word again. She isn't that word!" he said with a little anger in his voice as he glared at Punk.

Emma and Punk sat in a shocked silence for a few minutes before Emma cleared her throat and spoke up. "Jack, I know you don't like it when we yelled at each other, and I know you didn't like it when we couldn't get along. But, son, that's all over. Dad and I made up-"

"For now! How long until you two start fighting again and you start kissing Uncle Scott again," Jack said.

"Did you see mom kissing Uncle Scott?" Punk demanded, his hazel eyes suddenly filled with anger. He loved Emma too much to not forgive her, but now that he found out that his son had seen it all happen, his mind was turning again; what else did the kid see?

Jack nodded. "Yeah, um...that night the cop put you in their car, Uncle Scott came back in the house and I was supposed to go to bed, but um...I stayed on the stairs and I saw mom kiss Uncle Scott."

"Emma. What the hell?" Punk growled at his wife.

"Phil, I suggest you watch your language around the child," Evelyn snapped at him, daring him to talk back to her.

"Oh yeah? Well, Evelyn, I suggest you mind your own business," he growled back at her softly, daring her to stick her nose into their business further.

"I want to live with grandma," Jack blurted out.

"You want to what?" Emma asked in shock. "Jack, honey, why would you want to do that? You belong here with us and Josh and Jenna."

"Because, no one yells at grandma's house and I don't have to take care of Josh and Jenna," he said as tears started to well up in his eyes.

Emma had no words right now. She knew that her behavior over the year had been hard on her oldest, but until this moment she had no idea how horrible it had really been for the boy.

"Son. Your mom and I had a long talk this week, and we decided not to get divorced. I'm moving back in; you are not moving in with grandma. That's final," Punk said firmly.

"For how long?" Jack asked.

"What do you mean 'for how long'? We're a family; we just hit a rough spot but everything's fine now," Punk replied.

"Phil, I think what the boy wants to know is-" Evelyn started before Emma interrupted.

"Mom, I know what's he's asking. And, yes, Jack, mom made some mistakes, and I'm really sorry that you and your brother and sister had to go through that, but things are going to go back to the way they were. Me and your dad are fine now."

"I love you mom, but I...Dad, you were so mean to mom that night."

Punk sighed. "I know, and trust me buddy, I apologized to your mom a million times and I'm really sorry that you had to see it. It's not going to happen again. I promise."

"What about Uncle Scott? Did you apologize to him? You were pretty mean to him that night too."

At the sound of his former best friend's name, it was at that moment that Punk realized that things weren't going to be exactly like the way they were before. He might have started to confront Scott, but it looked like he wasn't finished yet. "I'm dealing with your Uncle Scott; he did some things that were pretty shitty-"

"Like kissing mom?"

"Yeah, like kissing mom. But don't you worry about him. I'm going to take care of it," Punk said with determination.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Evelyn hung around for another hour before she finally gave up on talking any sense into Emma and left for home. What her daughter saw in that man she would never understand. He was a punk, plain and simple. He had no respect for his in-laws, he was cocky and mean, he was never around and his experience as a father was questionable at best. It was no wonder her daughter had turned to the affection of another man. Evelyn was sure that after the news broke that Emma had been unfaithful that the divorce would have been final; but what happened instead? Emma lost all of her senses and stopped the proceedings and let him move back in. If those two could only understand the damage they had done to little Jack over the past week. That child wanted nothing to do with his father right now; and what did Emma do? Let the man move back in and now the two of them were going to just act like nothing was wrong. Evelyn kissed the children good-bye, said good-bye to Emma and glared at her son-in-law before she left to wait for Emma to call crying like she always did.

Before she left, she leaned down and whispered in her oldest grandson's ear, "You call me if you need to, Jack. No matter how late. Grandma is here for you," she whispered with a kiss on his cheek.

Punk saw the interaction between Jack and his grandmother and wondered what thoughts she was trying to put into that boy's head now; probably something evil against him. Some things never change...

.

.

Emma was finishing up the dishes in the kitchen when Punk and Jenna sat down on the couch to watch Toy Story together. The little girl snuggled up close to her dad, with her penguin in her lap, and let out a little sigh of content. Punk smiled down at the girl when he saw how much his daughter looked like his beloved wife right now.

Josh came stomping down the stairs and jumped over the couch, almost landing on his little sister who let out of a squeal of anger at her older brother almost smooshing her. "Jenna! We watched this movie a million times at grandma's this week!" he pouted. Punk looked over at his middle son and sighed.

"Just let her watch it, Josh," he said quietly as the boy settled down on the other side of him. Punk wasn't in the mood to try and break up a quarrel between his two youngest children right now.

"But we watched two times today already! I want to watch Spongebob!" he whined at his father.

"I like it!" Jenna screeched at her brother. "And daddy said I could watch it! So you just shut up you poopy head!"

"I don't like it! It's the only thing you ever want to watch and I don't want to watch it anymore!" Josh screeched back at her. "And don't call me a poopy head, you big baby!"

"Daddy!" Jenna whined at her father, her big blue eyes welling up with tears, indicating an impending meltdown if she didn't get her way.

"Emma!" Punk shouted into the kitchen.

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Emma was putting the last plate away and was thinking about what to have make for dinner tonight, while Jack sat at the kitchen table and did his math homework, when Punk hollered from the living room for help. She sighed and looked at Jack. "What do you think the little ones are fighting about now?" she asked him.

"Toy Story," he said simply. "That's the only movie Jenna will ever watch anymore."

"Did they fight like this at grandma's house?"

Jack nodded and went back to his long division.

"And what did grandma do about it?"

"Nothing. She sent Josh into the family room to watch Spongebob and let Jenna watch Toy Story in the living room."

"Nice," Emma muttered as she went into the living room to save her husband from two fighting children.

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"How could you be so stupid, Scott?" Beth growled at him from across the table.

Scott sighed. "What are you bitching about now?" Yesterday Punk and Emma had come over to confront him about the fake paternity test that he had showed Emma three years ago. Scott was surprised that Punk didn't beat the shit out of him right then and there; instead he just got a sucker punch in, still hurt though. Him and Beth had been so close to breaking Punk and Emma up for good, but apparently they had overcome the odds and were getting back together. Scott didn't blame Punk for taking her back; he would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.

"I'm talking about the fact that four years worth of hard work just went down the drain yesterday because you couldn't keep your end of the bargain up," Beth sneered at him.

"Whatever-"

"No, not 'whatever'. I want Punk. I've always wanted him; and at one point he had wanted me too, and I was so close to getting him, but once again Emma fucked that up for me."

"Well, Beth, you're just going to have to get used to the fact that he loves her and that you're not going to get him. Why do you hate her so much by the way; you never really did say."

Beth's eyes turned dark with hate when she thought about Emma. "Because. She took Punk away from me. He doesn't belong with an airhead like her; he belongs with someone like me. Someone who understands him, someone who understands his love for the business. All Emma is good for is laying down and spreading her legs. I can't imagine that their conversations are very deep. I'm not giving up, Colton. I'll find a way to make him see that it's supposed to me and him."

Scott rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well good luck with that..." he muttered.

"No luck. It's fate."

"Shit. Now you're starting to sound like him."

"I'm the one who Punk is supposed to be with; not her. And **you** are going to help me break them up-"

"No, Beth. It didn't work before. It's not going to work now. I just lost one of my best friends because of your bullshit plan. So, let's recap, not only did I lose the girl, I lost my buddy. If anyone's a loser In this whole mess, it's me."

"That's where you're wrong, Colton. It will work this time. We just need to be patient. We're headed back on the road again in a few days and poor Emma will be all alone in Chicago with three screaming brats. In a few weeks, she'll start drinking and feeling frustrated again, and that's where you come in."

Scott chuckled. "What the hell am I supposed to do? He won't let me anywhere near her. And I seriously doubt that if I knocked on her front door she's going to let me in and act like everything is fine."

"There has to be another way to get to her."

"I can't think of anything, Beth. Maybe you just need to give this up." He was done trying to ruin Punk's life; as much as he wanted Emma, it just wasn't worth it anymore. He knew he should feel like shit for trying to break up his best friend's marriage, but it wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair that Punk had hit the big time and he was still struggling with independent shows, barely able to scrape rent money together each month while Punk and his beautiful wife lived in a five bedroom home.

"Jack."

"What about him?" Scott asked warily when she mentioned his oldest godson. Punk may be pissed as hell at him right now, but Scott still felt some sort of responsibility towards those kids to keep them safe.

"I can imagine that little Jack isn't too happy with his father right now...There has to be a way to get those two to start fighting again...There just has to be..." Beth trailed off as a sly smile broke out onto her face as she thought about what life was going to be like once she finally got Punk—perfect.

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"But mommy! I don't want to go to bed! I want to stay up with you and daddy!" Jenna whined as Emma tried to convince her to upstairs to her bedroom for the night. It had been a really long day and all she wanted to do was to put her pajamas on and crawl into Punk's lap and stay there for the night. "Daddy won't be here in the morning!"Jenna was still whining and was on the verge of tears. Emma looked over to her husband for some help with their daughter, but he was still trying to get Jack to talk to him in more than one or two word answers; he was failing miserably.

Emma sighed. "Yes, daddy will be here in the morning. He's not going anywhere until Sunday night when he has to work. So we have all day tomorrow and almost all day on Sunday to spend with daddy. Please, Jenners, let's go to bed."

"Daddy, can I drive you to the airport?" Jenna asked excitedly.

Punk sighed and gave up trying to talk to his oldest boy; he would just have to try later. "I appreciate the offer, baby, but you're only three. That and I don't think you can see over the steering wheel," he teased her with a wink as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. "Say good-night to mama."

"Night, mama!"

"Tell mama you love her."

Jenna giggled. "Love you, mama."

"Tell Jack good-night"

"Night, Jack."

"Tell him you love him."

"Love you, Jack!"

Punk started up the stairs with Jenna still thrown over his shoulder. "Love you too, buddy," he said quietly, but loud enough for Jack to hear him. His son still ignored him. Emma watched the hurt look on her husband's face before he continued going up the stairs with Jenna. She knew it was killing him inside that their oldest son was still so upset with him.

"Jack...how long are you going to be mad at dad?" she asked softly.

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I'm just...afraid he's going to leave right away again, or you're going to get mad at him and make him leave. How can you not be mad at him anymore, mom? He was so mean to you and you were so unhappy."

"I love your dad. And I love you kids. I...I was going through some rough stuff, but me and your dad worked it out and I think we're going to be all right."

"I want to believe you, mom, I really do. But I just got this bad feeling that something is going to go wrong again."

Emma didn't want to say it, but she was thinking the same thing. Everything had fallen into place too quickly, things don't normally work out this well without some consequences. She had a funny feeling that after the altercation with Beth yesterday, something was up with that, and it scared her to death to not know what it was. She also knew that Scott was persistent and probably didn't plan on giving up on her so quickly. She just hoped that this time around she would be able to resist his soft and sweet words.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

"Emmy..." Punk murmured into her ear. "Emmy Sue..." he growled as he gently nipped at her earlobe, while his hands wandered down her sides and finally resting on her hips. She let out a sigh of content at the feeling of his hands on her, holding her in place, staking his claim. Punk and Emma were in their bedroom getting 'reacquainted' after the last child had gone to bed, when Punk's cell phone started beeping. He pulled her tank top off of her and went to work on her neck when the beeping continued. He glanced over quickly at the phone, wondering who the hell was trying to get a hold of him right now.

"Ignore it," she whispered as she pulled him down on top of her for a hard kiss on the mouth. The phone stopped beeping for a few minutes, then it started again. Punk glanced over at the bedside table, wondering who was trying to interrupt this passionate moment with his wife right now when Emma raked her fingernails down his back, bringing his attention back to her. He let out a low groan of pleasure at the sensation of her nails scraping his skin. She could be a wild one when she wanted to be; that's how he liked her. "Naughty girl, you're gonna leave marks," he breathed into her ear, making her wrap her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her. "Pay attention to me," she said softly before she kissed him softly and then bit gently on his bottom lip.

Once again, the phone started beeping; he wasn't going to be able to focus on the task at hand if the phone kept interrupting him. He should have just shut the damn thing off after he got done with his nightly ritual of random, sarcastic tweets. Why he brought the damn thing upstairs with him in the first place was beyond him. It had been a long and trying day, all he wanted to do was fuck his wife and then try to sleep before it got too late and his insomnia got the better of him. "Damn it," he muttered as he laid his head on Emma's chest briefly and mumbled, "Sorry" into her breasts before he rolled off of her and picked the phone up. He felt a surge of annoyance rise up in him when he saw the name on the caller id. What the hell did she want? Didn't she do enough damage yesterday? He knew that she had a crush on him, but there wasn't anything else she could do about it—he was head over heels in love with Emma, who had taken the first steps in taking him back and working on their relationship. There had been a nagging feeling in the back of his mind for a while now that Beth had more than friendship on her mind when it came to her and Punk's relationship. That was just too bad for her though; Emma wasn't giving up on him and there was no way in hell he was ever letting her go willingly.

"Who was it," she said softly as she slowly ran her fingertips up and down Punk's lower back.

"Beth," he said quietly before he threw the phone back on the bedside table and crawled back on top of Emma. He would just deal with Beth later, right now he had a beautiful woman in his bed he needed to deal with. A woman who had shut him out for almost seven months; they had a lot of catching up to do before he took off on Sunday night. "Where were we?" he asked quietly before he lowered his head down to Emma's breasts and started teasing one with his tongue ring...

.

.

.

Beth let out a small scream of frustration as she heard Punk's voicemail pick up again. It was almost ten o'clock on a Friday night. She knew he wasn't sleeping; if anything he was wide awake but too pissed off at her to answer his phone. She hit the redial button and tried again. She knew he had his phone with him; she had just seen him post a random tweet on Twitter, so she knew he was around somewhere. Beth felt a tightening feeling in her chest when the thought of what he was probably doing right now instead of answering his phone. He was probably getting it on with that bitch wife of his, Emma.

She hated Emma. Truly hated her. Since Scott was refusing to help Beth steal Punk away from Emma, it looked like she was on her own. There had to be a way to get him to see that Emma was no good for him, and that he should just finalize their divorce, leave her with nothing, take the kids and run. Well, Beth thought to herself, he could leave the kids with Emma. Beth didn't want any reminders of Punk's life with Emma when she finally got her hands on him.

Somewhere deep down inside of her, she knew that it was wrong to lust after a married man like she did with Punk. They had been friends too long and he had confessed his near obsession with Emma to her a long time ago and how no matter what she ever did to him, he would never leave her. He was **that** in love with Emma. That didn't stop Beth from still wanting him though. She knew that if she went through with her thought about involving his oldest son in her plot to get Punk and Emma to break up and he found out about it, he would never forgive her. A lot of people never suspected that Punk could be a good father, they thought he was too brash and too cynical, and that life on the road, and life in general, had jaded him. But Beth knew him well enough to know that besides wrestling and Emma, those kids were what kept him sane. She just had to figure out how she could use that to her advantage.

.

.

"Daddy? Daaaddy? Dadddddy..." Jenna poked at Punk while he was still sleeping. He opened one eye and saw his youngest staring at him, then he closed his eyes. It was too early for her to be doing this, he thought to himself. "Daaaaaaaadddddyyy..." she kept on. She was about to do it again when he reached over quickly and pulled her into bed with him, causing her to giggle. "Hi," she said as she snuggled in between him and Emma.

"Hey. What are you doing up so early?" he mumbled as he closed his eyes again, hoping she would take the hint and try to go back to sleep.

"Time to get up. Cartoons are on," she replied as she turned her attention to her mother, who was still out like a light. Punk smiled to himself when he thought about why she was so tired; he had given her quite the workout last night. It wouldn't surprise him if he got had gotten her pregnant last night. The thought of having kids still amazed him; but the thought of having four kids? That was incredible. They hadn't talked about planning for another child, but at the same time, they didn't even stop to think about using protection. Life was slowly moving back into what it used to be for the family, and Punk had vowed that nothing, and he meant nothing, was going to take this away from him.

.

.

Jack opened his eyes and stared at his bedroom ceiling. He could hear his little sister giggling down the hall. Well, I'm glad she thinks everything is fine, he thought glumly to himself. She's too little to understand what is going on anyways. His dad was going to leave and go on the road tomorrow night and things would go back to the way the were before; mom would get stressed out having to be home with us alone and would start drinking that wine again. Uncle Scott would start coming around again; although after what Jack had witnessed between his father and Scott last weekend, and the fact that neither his mom or dad had mentioned him, Jack doubted that he would ever see his beloved Uncle Scott again.

He thought back to late last Saturday night when his mom had thought that he had gone up to bed, but instead he had stayed high up on the staircase and spied on his mom and Scott. He felt a funny feeling in his stomach when he remembered how Scott had moved from the chair and walked over to the couch to sit next to his mom and had put his arm around her and pulled her close. That funny feeling in his stomach started to make him feel sick when he remembered how his mom had leaned in and kissed Scott. He couldn't understand why she was doing that; she had been crying about dad being hauled off to jail, and it was obvious to him that Uncle Scott was the reason why, but she was still kissing him.

He didn't mean to blurt it out yesterday when he told his dad that he saw Uncle Scott kissing mom. It just kind of happened. Jack had so many emotions swirling inside him right now, and he wasn't sure what any of them meant. On one hand, he was glad, ecstatic even, that his mom and dad had stopped fighting and that dad was going to move back into the house. But on the other hand, that funny sick feeling in his stomach kept churning, making him think that maybe things are calm right now, but eventually are going to get worse.

As he crawled out of his bed and straightened the covers, he hoped that things were going to go back to normal. Because if they didn't, he wasn't sure how much longer he could put on a brave face before he started to break down and cry like Jenna does when she doesn't get to watch her movie.

He walked down the hall to see if his little brother was awake; Josh wasn't in his room. Jack kept walking down the hall until he came to his parents' bedroom. He peeked inside and saw his mom and dad still in bed, with Josh and Jenna laying in the middle, arguing about who got to play with dad first today.

Punk looked up from Josh and Jenna's argument and saw his oldest boy standing in the door frame. "Morning, buddy," he said softly, wondering if Jack was still pissed as hell at him. Jack nodded and then turned around and started to make his way downstairs, leaving Punk to sigh in frustration at the sight of his oldest still ignoring him. 'I'm only here for another day and a half, I gotta figure out a way to make the kid like me again,' Punk thought to himself as he looked over at Emma, who was still trying to sleep even though there were two kids in their bed and their arguing was starting to get louder. "Em. Wake up. I need pancakes," he said to her as he got out of bed and looked around for a pair of jeans.

"Make them yourself," she mumbled back and she snuggled in deeper to the blanket.

He caught Jenna and Josh's eye and nodded. He chuckled to himself as he watched Emma scream in protest as the kids jumped on her and started tickling her and started to be pests about pancakes. Finally after a few minutes, she gave in and got out of bed. She stopped in front of Punk on her way to the bathroom. "You owe me," she murmured as she kissed him on the cheek and headed down the hallway, with Josh and Jenna trailing after her chanting about pancakes.

Just another day, he thought as he smiled to himself and started to head downstairs to the kitchen and wait for his pancakes.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

"Are you sure you can't come with me," Punk murmured into Emma's ear. She shook her head and pulled him closer to her. They had found a few stolen minutes away from the kids; who were busy cleaning up their rooms. Emma had been begging them to clean their rooms for weeks, but all it took was a request from their dad and a stern look and the three of them marched right into their rooms and started cleaning. "But I want you to," he whispered as he nuzzled her neck. She shook her head again. The rest of the weekend had been near perfect; except for the fact that Jack still refused to speak to his dad and shot him glares all weekend. Punk had given up trying to get the kid to talk to him for the moment; he would just have to deal with his oldest son later. Right now, he needed to try and convince Emma in the next twelve hours that she should pull the kids out of school for a week and come on the road with him. He even suggested that the kids stay with her mother and just Emma come along with him. Jenna had caught wind of their conversation about leaving the kids home with Evelyn and had immediately burst into tears at the thought of her mom and dad going somewhere together and not taking her with them. So much for a week alone with his wife, he thought to himself.

"The boys have school, and-" she started to say before the cut her off.

"And what, Em? I never see them, and it's just a week. I don't want to lose what we have going on right now," he said softly as he traced her collarbone with his fingers, causing her to shiver from his touch.

"Punk..."

"Emmy..." he whispered as he leaned into kiss her. "Can you think about it? Please, Emmy Sue?" he whispered as he leaned in and kissed her softly. He pulled away from her and smirked as he watched her blue eyes cloud over with lust.

"Ok, I'll think about it," she mumbled as she leaned in and kissed him on the mouth and sighed in content at the same time. She pulled away and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I love you, Punk...are we all right now?"

Punk was silent for a few seconds before he answered. "Yeah, baby, we're gonna be all right..."

.

.

"Beth, what are you doing?" Scott asked quietly as he walked in on her going through the photos on his laptop. She turned and looked at him with an evil smile on her face. Scott looked over her shoulder and saw what was making her smile like that; it was a picture of him and Emma. He was sitting on the couch and she was straddling his lap. It was obvious to anyone looking at that picture that him and Emma had been lovers. "Why are you looking at that? I thought you hated Emma. And I thought you were mad at me?" he asked as he sat down on the couch and started to play with his phone. He had sent Emma a text earlier today and she still hadn't replied. Not that he had really expected her to reply; not with Punk at home at least. He knew deep down that whatever him and Emma had had going on the last couple of years wasn't over. It wasn't going to be over until Scott finally gave up on her or until she left Punk. And he was damned if he was going to give up on her. Shit, he thought to himself, now I'm starting to sound like Beth.

"I do hate Emma. And I'm not mad at you anymore," she said quietly as he watched as she opened the Photo Shop program on his laptop and began messing around with the photo of him and Emma. He watched with interest as she manipulated the date stamp on the photo. What was she up to now?

.

.

Sunday afternoon finally rolled around and Punk was once again trying to convince Emma to come on the road with him; even if it was just for a couple of days. It was already after twelve and he had to get ready to head out on the road in a few hours. She had promised to think about earlier this weekend, but she hadn't said anything about it since then."Hey, we need to talk about whether or not you're going to come with this week. I really want you to come with," he said as he lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers. Emma was pleasantly surprised at how romantic he was trying to be right now in order to get what he wanted. "Please, Emmy..." he whispered in her ear as he started playing with her hair. He moved some hair away from her neck and placed a few gentle kisses on her most sensitive spot.

"Punk, you know we can't just drop everything and come on the road with you," Emma said quietly as she sighed in contentment as he played with her hair. "We can't just pull Jack out of school like this."

He pulled away from her and sat back on the bed. "You know, Em, if we left him at your mother's, I don't think it would even bother him. The kid is so pissed off at me right now, he's probably rather be at Evelyn's anyways."

"That's not true, Punk, Jack loves-"

"Jack is mad at me. And that's there is to it, Emma. He's mad at me because I beat the shit out of his beloved Uncle Scott and I screamed at you."

"He'll get over-"

"No, he won't. If that kid is anything like his old man, he's not going to just get over it like that," Punk said gruffly as he moved off the bed and started pacing around the room.

"Give the boy some time," Emma said softly as she watched her husband pace back and forth. "That's all you have to do. Give him time."

"Em, I have to leave in a few hours and you said yesterday that you would think about it. I gotta know; are you coming with me?"

Emma sighed and looked down at her hands; she took a deep breathe, "Let me call my mom and see if she'll get Jack and Josh to school this week."

A big smile broke out on Punk's face. "You're the best, Emmy Sue..." he whispered as he walked over to the bed and took her face in his hands. "I told you we'd be fine..."

.

.

.

"Mom, I know that you're tired of this back and forth business that Punk and I are doing, but I'm serious. Everything is fine now and we're back together," Emma said in frustration as she talked to her mother on the phone. Punk was out in the living room helping Josh practice his letters while Jack sat in the chair and ignored his father. Jenna was in her own little world, humming to herself and coloring.

"Emma Sue, I just don't understand why you want to go with him. You have responsibilities at home that you should be worried about instead of hopping from town to town like some sort of gypsy!" Evelyn said back.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Mom, it's nothing like that at all and you know that. It's more of being able to spend time with my husband and watching him live his dream."

"What are your dreams, Emma? When are you going to stop worrying so much about Phil and start worrying about yourself?" Evelyn asked softly.

"Mom..."

"Emma Sue, I'm serious. Part of the reason you were so upset with Phil and wanted a divorce in the first place was because there was no Emma. It was all Phil and Emma. Or Emma the mother. Don't you want something better for yourself?"

"What are you saying? Being a mom isn't good enough?" Emma asked huffily.

"No, dear that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm simply pointing the fact out that if things didn't end up working out for you and him, that you would have nothing. And I don't mean that he wouldn't leave you with alimony or child support, I mean that your purpose of being a wife, would be over and then what would you do?"

Emma sighed. "Mom, I don't have time to think about this right now. I will, trust me, but right now, Phil is leaving in a few hours and I need to know if you can watch Jack and Josh this week or not?"

"I don't appreciate you talking me in that tone of voice, Emma. But, I do love my grandsons and I would be happy to watch over them this week. Does this mean you will be taking little Jenna with you?"

"Yes. She refuses to let Punk out of her sight."

"Very well then. I assume I will see you soon?"

Emma finished saying good-bye to her mother when Punk came into the kitchen and sat down next to Jenna at the kitchen table. The little girl looked up at her dad and smiled before turning her attention back to her coloring book. He watched with interest as his wife talked to her mom on the phone; he held in a chuckle when he saw Emma rolling her eyes at her mother. Evelyn had that same affect on him as well. Emma hung up the phone and turned to face Punk.

"Well?" he asked.

"She said yes."

Punk jumped up from his chair, grabbed Emma around the waist and spun her around the room. He finally set her down and kissed her gently on the mouth. "Go pack, baby," he said as he slapped her on the ass and went out into the living room to get his sons motivated to start packing their suitcases and backpacks for grandma's house. Everything was falling into place for the first time in a long time for Punk.

As he got his boys motivated, he tried like hell to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that it was strange that things had turned around so quickly for him and Emma. He was repressing the anger and jealousy when he thought of his best friend's hands all over his wife, and how there had been a fifty percent chance that Jenna hadn't been his daughter. Thankfully, she was his. What was he going to do about Scott though? He had been his best friend years and was actually the godfather to his kids; hell, he was even named as their legal guardian should something happen to both him and Emma. He was going to have to go through the hassle of changing all of that paperwork. That didn't bother him as much as it was going to bother him to have to tell his kids why they wouldn't see their Uncle Scott anymore.

He couldn't think about it right now; when he got back in a couple of weeks, when he had calmed down a bit more, he would sit down and talk to Scott. Until then, he just hoped that he did the right thing by forgiving Emma so quickly. She had better hope that she didn't disappoint him; he believed in forgiveness, but he also believed that the other person should have learned their lesson the first time.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: apologies for lack of updates; was really stuck on this story for a while. Read, review and enjoy.**

**Chapter 23**

This had to be a dream, Punk thought to himself as he looked over at Emma. She was keeping Jenna entertained with a coloring book right now; this would be the little girl's first flight. He smiled a little as he watched his wife take care of Jenna's nervousness about flying with ease. She has always been so good with the kids, he thought to himself. The three of them—himself, Emma and Jenna—were sitting in the terminal of the airport waiting to board their flight. He couldn't believe it; she had actually agreed to travel with him for a few days. He had been begging her to come along for the ride since he had hit it big in the WWE. She always turned him down for some reason or another. Then she turned into a raging bitch and refused to be anywhere near him. But now she was scared to be away from him, as if something would suddenly come around that could tear their newly resurrected apart. He was never going to give up on her; no matter what happened.

He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair; everything was happening so fast. They were back together now, the divorce proceedings had been stopped and he was moving back in; everything was perfect. Except for one thing that he couldn't forget no matter how hard he tried. Emma had cheated on him; she had laid down for another man and let him touch her, make love to her, kiss her sweet lips, runs his hands through her long hair. And the worst part of it all? That other man just happened to be his best friend. He had started to forgive Emma, he had too, and he couldn't stand the thought of actually losing her. She swore up and down that it would never, ever happen again. He believed her. What about Scott thought? Punk couldn't even begin to think about how his relationship with his best friend could be salvaged. It probably couldn't he thought sadly to himself.

"Punk?" Emma asked quietly as she stood up and started gathering Jenna's coloring books and putting Jenna's jacket on her. "They just called our flight number. Are you ready to go?"

He nodded and picked up the rest of their carry-on luggage. They had to deal with mess eventually; but right now, he was just content to have his wife back on his side again, where she belonged.

.

.

.

"But Grandma! It isn't fair that Jenna got to go with mom," Jack whined to his grandmother Monday morning while he finished up his breakfast. Once again, he and his brother Josh were stuck staying at their grandmother's house while their mom needed some 'alone time'. But only this time, she took Jenna with her and was with dad, and worst of all, they weren't coming back for almost a week!

"Not even sure why it matters to you, Jack. I thought you were mad at your father?" Evelyn asked as she finished packing Josh's backpack.

"I am," he said quietly while playing with his empty cereal bowl. He was still really mad at his dad; how could his dad, who claimed to love mom so much act like such an asshole towards her, and Uncle Scott, and then just expect everything to go back to the way they were before?

"Then, tell me Jack, why does it bother you that your mother went with your father?" Evelyn asked as she sat down next to Jack.

"I don't know.." he mumbled, refusing to meet the kind and understanding eyes of his grandmother. Grandma had always been there for him, always explaining things about his mom and dad when he didn't understand why they would fight the way they did. She had been a big help in helping him figure out what he was feeling when dad moved out.

"I think you do know," she replied gently as she started rubbing his back. This poor boy, she thought to herself. "You know you can tell grandma anything. Tell me what's bothering you?"

Jack hesitated for a few minutes before he finally blurted it out. "Dad doesn't deserve mom! She's so nice and pretty and dad is just what you said he was—a worthless asshole!" he said as his face turned bright red. He waited for his grandmother to yell at him for using a curse word.

More than anything, she wanted to agree with the boy; her son-in-law was a worthless asshole and she didn't much care for him; but then she remembered the way he would look at her daughter. Every woman in the world wishes and waits for a man to look at them with the same kind of adoration that Phil had for Emma. Evelyn had seen the way that her daughter looked at Phil the first time she brought him home. Emma had been smitten. "Your father loves your mother. And he loves you boys and Jenna. I would have thought that you would have been very happy that they are starting to work things out. I thought that's what you had wanted from the beginning—for your mom and dad to work things out. And that's what's happening right now."

"Then why did he say such mean things to mom, and why did he beat up Uncle Scott?" Jack asked; his hazel eyes flashing with annoyance and wanting answers. Unfortunately, these were answers that Evelyn couldn't give her grandson.

"Jack…adults sometimes have a strange way of showing each other how much they love one another. I know you're too young to understand; but you need to trust me. Your mom and dad getting back together, and your dad moving back in, will all make sense to you one day. Not anytime soon, mind you, but one day, you'll understand. Now, I believe you two young men need to get your backpacks on and get ready for school."

Apparently, this conversation was over for now.

.

.

.

Over the years, Emma had met many of Punk's co-workers; but that didn't stop her from still feeling very nervous later that evening when she walked into the arena with him. Holding her hand, and carrying Jenna, the three of them made their way through the crowded backstage hallways of the arena. He could tell that several people were staring at him, trying to figure out who this beautiful woman next to him was, and why he was carrying a small child. Not a lot of people knew that he was married and had kids. They all thought he was just some sort of brooding asshole complete with tattoos and a bad attitude. They had no idea that he absolutely loved being a father and husband.

"Daddy! Look!" Jenna squealed with delight as they came around a corner and headed down the hallway that would take them to his locker-room. Punk looked to where his daughter was pointing and held back a groan. "Really, Jenners?" he mumbled under his breath as he looked over at Emma. He smiled a little when he saw that she was rolling her eyes at who Jenna was so excited to see.

"Daddy! Daddy! I want to go talk to him!" Jenna said quickly as she started to pester Punk to put her down.

"Just a minute, Jenna…." Just as he had put his daughter down, the object of her current fangirl status came over to them. "Well, well, well. Look who's here!" he said with a big grin as he held out his hand for a high five from his favorite three year old fan. "If it isn't Miss Jenna Brooks. How ya doing, kid?"

"Cena," Punk said quietly as he watched his daughter squeal with delight in coming face to face with her favorite wrestler, after her daddy of course.

"Punk….." John said quietly but then a big grin filled up his face when he saw that the lovely Emma Brooks was visiting today as well. "Hi, Emma…Long time no see," he said quietly as he wrapped an arm around Emma's narrow shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. She immediately stiffened up for two reasons. One, she knew this was making Punk jealous as hell and he was probably trying really hard not to start throwing punches in front of Jenna. Two, she didn't particularly care for John. She didn't like the way the company had been portraying him as the best in the company.

"John. Nice to see you again," she said quietly as she quickly moved away from John and immediately took Punk's hand. She could see the curious look in John's eyes as Punk looked down at her amused that she would cling to him the way she was right now. As long as John had known Punk, he had never seen his wife act like this; he had heard rumors lately that they had broken up for a while, but it looked like everything was fine right now.

"Are you ready, baby…." Punk said quietly in his wife's ear. Emma nodded and motioned for Jenna to come back to her mother. The little girl sadly said good-bye to her current favorite and took her father's hand as they headed back on their way to Punk's locker-room.

.

.

.

After Emma got Jenna settled in with a Care Bears movie, she sat down on the small couch next to her husband. "Why did you let him do that?" he asked softly, trying hard to keep his emotions in check right now.

"Why did I let who do what?" she asked with an air of confusion in her tone. She honestly had no idea why Punk was asking her that.

"Let Cena put his hands on you," he replied bluntly.

Emma rolled her eyes. Along with many other personality quirks, over the years Emma has had to deal with Punk's sometimes insane jealousy when it came to other men being within ten feet of her. "Oh, stop. You know just as well as I do that I don't like him. In fact, I can't stand him just as much as you can't."

"Didn't seem that way when you let him put his big paws all over you," he replied once again in a stubborn voice.

"Drop it, Punk," she said softly as she took his hands in hers. "No one matters but you…."

"Except Scott," he spat at her and then immediately regretted it.

"Damn it," she mumbled as she moved away from him. "Why are you starting now? I thought we had gotten past that—" she started to say before he cut her off.

"You might think that we've gotten past that, Em. But I'm the one that has to live with the image of my former best friend with his sweaty hands all over you!"

"Keep your voice down," she hissed as she glanced over at Jenna. Thankfully the little girl was in a Care Bears induced trance and hadn't heard her parents start to fight. Again.

"I will not keep my voice down, Em. We still have a long ways to go before everything is back to normal. And I would appreciate it if you did your part by not letting my co-workers paw at you like you just let Cena did."

"You are fucking unbelievable, Phil. Just unbelievable—"

"Oh, here we go again. And 3..2..1.. BAM! Emma's back to being a bitch! What a surprise," he mumbled as he glared at her.

"You are unbelievable. Seriously. I thought we were making progress—"

"We were—"

"Let me finish a damn sentence, Phil!" she shouted at him. Emma was about to continue with what she was saying before she was interrupted by her husband, but a knock at the door, put a sudden end to their marital bickering. With a final sneer to his wife, Punk got off the couch and went to answer the door.

"We're not done talking about this, Emmy," he warned as he walked across the room and flung the door open. "What do you want," he growled at the person on the other side of the door.

Natalya rolled her eyes; she was used to Punk's normal aggressive behavior. "Nothing, it's just that we can all hear you and your wife fighting, and someone had mentioned that one of your kids was with tonight."

"What's your point, Natalya," Punk growled at her. He was starting to get more upset than he already was right now.

"Shit, Punk. Calm down. I'm just stopping by to see if you wanted me, or one of the other girls, to take the kid for an hour or so, so you and your wife can talk—"

"Thanks but no thanks. And you can tell everyone else," Punk moved her aside as he shouted down the hall. "That I can take care of my own kid and my wife. So just go about and mind your own business!" He sneered at Natalya one more time before he slammed the door in her face.

"That didn't go very well did it," voice said gently behind Natalya. She let out a dry chuckle and turned to face John.

"No it didn't. I was just trying to be helpful…..How long have Punk and his wife been married?"

"Hmm…I don't know, I think nine years maybe? Don't know. He doesn't really talk about her," John replied as he put his arm around her shoulders and led her back down the hall to catering. "He's a pretty private person, and from what I had heard, I thought he was in the middle of a divorce."

"Well. From what I heard from Beth," Natalya replied with a twinkle in her eyes at getting a chance to share some gossip, "they had been separated for like six months and then the divorce was going to be final but then she changed her mind and said she wanted him back."

"It's not nice to gossip, Nat," John said gently. "But I'm with you. I don't see how she puts up with him. What else did Beth have to say about them?" John asked, not really eager to join in the gossip mill right now, but he didn't really have anything to do until later tonight. Might as well kill some time with some good old fashioned locker-room gossip.

"Oh, not much. Just that out of the blue Emma had demanded a divorce and had almost got it, along with a huge alimony and child support package, but then she let it slip that their youngest isn't really his kid."

"Really? The one they have with them tonight?" John asked with a newly found interest.

"Yeah, apparently she had been sleeping around with someone while he was out on the road. I can't think of his real name, but when he wrestles he goes by Colt?"

"Colt Cabana?" John let out a laugh. "That guy is almost as weird and awkward as Punk is. What did she see in him?"

Natalya shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I only know what Beth told me."

They walked in silence for a few seconds before John spoke again. "Didn't Beth used to have a thing for him?"

"Who, Colt?"

"No, no…..Punk?"

"Used to? Oh, honey. She is still obsessed with that man. I doubt she'll ever give up on him." Well, that's the impression Natalya got anytime Beth steered the conversation towards wanting what she couldn't have. Normally she just brushed off what Beth said as just talk. But lately….lately something was feeling "off" about Beth. She had just hoped that her friend wouldn't go after Punk like she went after everything else in life—with determination.


	24. Chapter 24 continuation

**-Chapter 24-**

Emma and Jenna watched the show from the front row tonight. She got some curious looks from a few other people in attendance; she was used to it, so she just ignored them and tried to get Jenna situated. Emma had been to multiple shows that Punk had performed in, but this would be the first one that Jenna would be old enough to remember. She smiled as she saw her daughter's cute little face light up at the sound of her dad's music start to play and he made his way down to the ring. "Mama? Why are all the people booing daddy?" Jenna asked with a confused look on her face as she tugged at her mother's sleeve. "That's not nice!"

Emma smiled a little; Jenna was too little to understand professional wrestling and the storylines that went along with it yet. Someday, when she was older, Punk would have to explain it to her just like he had to Jack. "Daddy is playing the bad guy."

"But he's not a bad guy!" the little girl insisted.

"I know that, Jenners. But that's just the part that daddy plays," Emma tried to reassure her little one. "You'll understand one day."

"Daddy is a good man," Jenna said with determination as she watched her father stand on the top rope and taunt the crowd. "They shouldn't boo him. They should be clapping for him like I am!," she said sternly as she stood on her chair and cheered loudly for her dad. Punk caught Jenna's eye before he picked up the microphone and gave her a wink.

He can be, Emma thought to herself, suddenly feeling bad about picking a fight with him right before the show tonight. They had been through so much during the past six months—she did the unthinkable and instead of pushing the divorce through, he wanted to try and work it out. What did she do to deserve a man like him, to love her unconditionally after everything she did? She would just have to make it up to him later tonight after the show.

.

.

"Daddy! That was so much fun!" Jenna trilled as she held tightly onto her dad's hand as Emma followed behind them as they walked backstage to Punk's dressing room. He had been acting cool towards her ever since their big fight earlier in the evening. He barely acknowledged her when she caught up with him backstage.

"It was? What was your favorite part, Jenners?" he asked his youngest with amusement shining in his hazel eyes. It was an amazing feeling seeing the excitement in his kids' eyes when they got to come to a show and see what he did every night.

"When I got to see John Cena!" she exclaimed, a wide smile on her little mouth. Emma held back a giggle at the look on disbelief on Punk's face.

"Didn't you like it when daddy came out," Punk asked quietly, trying hard to keep his frustration and disappointment to himself.

"Well, that was ok, but John Cena is so much fun!"

"Huh," he said quietly as they approached his dressing room. He opened the door and Jenna skipped inside. "What was mommy's favorite part?" he asked quietly as he reached for Emma.

"When this straight edge guy with short hair and a beard came out to the ring…." Emma said coyly, biting her bottom lip, trying hard to avoid Punk's eyes.

"Oh, yeah?" he whispered in a husky voice as his arms wrapped around her waist and he started to pull her closer to him.

Emma ran her fingers slowly up and down her husband's strong arms, tracing the outlines of his tattoos. "Yeah….he was really good looking…..he had all these tattoos…..and I couldn't stop hanging onto every work that he said tonight…" she trailed off as she lifted her blue eyes to finally look at him. When her eyes met his, she saw how his hazel eyes were glazed over with lust for her right now.

"Good looking, huh?" he whispered as he pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and leaned down so his face was hovering above hers. He was just about to cover her sweet mouth with his own, when an annoying, but familiar voice, called out his name.

"Punk! There you are!" Punk let out a sigh of immense frustration and looked up to see a smiling Beth staring him down. She pretended to not see Emma. "We're all going out for something to eat at Waffle House. Are you coming?" she said as she stood next to Emma, batting her eyes at Punk. Emma held in a scream and turned to face Beth.

"Hello, Beth," Emma growled quietly.

The smile on Beth's face waivered momentarily as she finally acknowledged Punk's wife; with a fake, and noticeably forced, smile on her face Beth turned her attention to Emma. "Oh, Emma. I didn't know you were here tonight…..I thought for sure that you and Scott would have had plans tonight. You know, because, isn't that what always happened once Punk went out of town?" Beth said sweetly.

Emma's blood boiled. Her face turned bright red and she looked at her husband. Was he going to say something to make this stop? Beth kept on, "What's the matter, Emma? Why is your face so red? Oops…didn't Punk know that Scott stopped over before Punk's flight even took off? Scott was telling me all about it. Girl, that man is in love with you. But you already knew that, didn't you. You must have, considering that you were planning on running away with him after you took Punk for all his money?" she asked innocently.

Something in Emma snapped. Without even realizing what was happening, Emma lunged at Beth with enough force to knock her to the ground. With her left hand, she grabbed Beth's hair and slammed her head onto the floor. Beth tried to fight back, but Emma got a few good slaps in to Beth's face, before Punk hooked his arms under his wife's and pulled her off of Beth. "Emmy! What the fuck?" he growled in her ear. Breathing hard, Emma turned to stare at her husband—he was pissed. She never had been able to stand that look of disappointment on his face; she looked away from him and saw that a few other divas were helping Beth up from the floor. Apparently, Emma's little outburst had caused some attention, because there was a small crowed forming around Beth. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Punk growled in her ear as he held onto her arm as if to restrain her in case she decided to go after Beth. "These are the people that I work with every day; the fucking talent guy is here tonight. I know we're having problems with her and Scott right now, but shit, Emmy, you can't just attack her like this. You're going to get me suspended and then what," he quickly whispered in her ear. She stared at him—was he mad at her, or just worried about getting in trouble?

"Are….are you mad at me right now? Are you **that** worried about your job? Is your job more important than me?" Emma whispered back.

Punk's mouth opened to respond, but he was cut off by Beth, who interrupted the spat that was happening between Punk and Emma right now. While rubbing her jawline, "Punk, you are an idiot. A complete fool. What kind of man just accepts and then ignores the fact that his wife cheated on him?" she demanded to know. "I'll tell you what kind of man, a **weak man**. You do realize that if she hadn't come with you this week, she'd probably be laying underneath Colton right now, don't you? She's a slut, Punk. She's weak. She doesn't care about you; she just wants your money," Beth was saying quickly as she moved closer to Punk, her blue eyes were starting to glaze over a little bit, as if the words were just falling out of her mouth without her really thinking about them. "You deserve better than her, Punk. You deserve someone who is strong, who is going to stand by you through everything, who would never think about leaving you. You need someone who understands the business and loves it just as much as you do," her words were coming quickly and more softly now. Emma was in shock; she noticed that Jenna had come over to the partially opened door and was wondering why this tall woman was standing to close to her father. Emma walked over and placed her hands over Jenna's ears so she didn't have to hear this nonsense out of Beth's mouth. "Make her stop," she whispered to Punk.

Punk looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. He couldn't find the words to make Beth stop talking right now. "Admit it, Punk. You've thought of leaving her. You've thought of just giving her the divorce and walking away from everything—from the house, the responsibilities, those kids….You miss being able to come and go as you please, don't you? You miss the excitement of the chase of a new woman. You don't like waking up next to Emma and all of her drama anymore, do you? It's ok. You can admit it now. You can admit what you told me. You don't need to be stuck like this anymore….." Beth reached out and touched a stunned Punk's arm. He looked down at her big hand on his arm and then looked back at his wife of almost ten years, tears shining in her pretty blue eyes, hands still over his youngest child's ears. "Please make her stop," she whispered.

Jenna looked up at her mom who was starting to cry, and then she looked at her dad who still had a dazed look on his face. What was going on? Jack said mommy and daddy were going to live together again. Why was this tall lady making her mom cry and her dad act so weird?


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

"Punk….what is she talking about…..why is she saying that you wanted to leave me?" Emma asked in a voice barely above a whisper. She was in shock; yes, she had cheated on him and filed for divorce. But that was irrelevant right now—he swore he forgave her and that they were going to get past this. What was Beth talking about through? Punk had sworn to Emma over and over again that he had loved her and the kids more than anything and that he would never give up on them, no matter what. Emma placed her hand on Punk's arm; he was entranced with Beth right now and Emma couldn't get a good read on what her husband might be feeling right now. "Phil….answer me….please…."

Punk was still staring Beth down who was returning the stare she was receiving with an evil smile of her own. "Yeah, Punk. Tell her. Tell her how after she filed for divorce you came over and told me and Scott about how you were sick of her. Tell Emma how you wished you had never married her and let her trap you with those kids. You might have gotten that little one tested," she said as she cast a scornful look at little Jenna, "But I bet you didn't even think about testing your boys, did you? Emma is a slut, Punk. She slept around you and got knocked up. She doesn't love you, Punk. She's just holding you back. Think about it, baby, if you weren't tied down to her and her brats, you could be living the life you've always wanted—you could be free," she finished, her blue eyes fully glazed over right now as she stared Punk down.

"Phil, what is she talking about?" Emma asked again, the tears that were welling up in her eyes just a minute or so ago, falling freely down her cheeks.

Punk turned and faced his wife, taking in her tear stained cheeks and fearful eyes. He let out a sigh of frustration and turned back to Beth. "Now is not the time to be having this conversation," he said softly as he shot her a stern look. He looked away from her and looked at the small crowd that had formed, seemingly to watch his newly resurrected marriage slowly crumble apart. Again. "Now, if you don't mind, the show's over. Beat it," he growled at the onlookers. He gently took Emma's arm and led her back into the room. Beth grabbed his arm and pulled him away from Emma before he could shut the door.

"Think about what you're doing, Punk. Think about how upset you were that night when you came and confided in me. You don't need her anymore. You don't need her to hold you back," she whispered furiously like a desperate woman.

"Back off, Beth," he murmured quietly before he pulled his arm away from her grasp and walked into the room, closing the door securely behind him. He looked around the room—Jenna was absorbed in playing with her dolls and Emma was sitting on the couch, knees pulled up to her chest, letting the tears flow down her face. "Hey," he mumbled as he sat down next to her. "We should talk….." he began….

.

.

_Punk's flight had just landed in Chicago; he had been overseas on tour for the past two weeks and he missed his wife and kids terribly. He stopped at a floral shop on his way out of the airport. He smiled as he thought about the look on Emma's face when he showed up a day early with flowers in hand._

_Emma was trying to convince the kids that it was past eight o'clock and that they had to go to bed. She desperately needed ten minutes alone. She had been a nervous wreck all week after she had visited the lawyer's office on Monday. Scott had finally convinced her to file for divorce. After everything that had happened with her and Scott, she had finally gave in to him and had agreed to divorce her husband. That was the easy part; the hard part was going to be telling Punk that it was over and she wanted out._

_She was just about to scream out loud in frustration when the front door swung open and her mouth dropped when she saw who was standing there. "Daddy!" Josh and Jenna screamed as they ran full force into their father's arms, practically knocking him over. Emma watched in disbelief as her husband stood in the doorway, hugging two of his three children with one arm and the arm held a huge bouquet of beautiful red roses. Punk let go of his two younger kids and pulled his oldest in for a manly hug. Punk managed to get in the door and shut it behind him all while listening to his kids babble and giggle about everything that had happened to them in the last two weeks and what kind of fun they were going to have now that daddy was home. Emma was still standing there by the couch in shock. This threw her whole plan out the window. She still hadn't worked up enough nerve to tell him that she had filed for divorce; she was going to work on what she was going to say tonight and practice it tomorrow before he came home. _

_After catching up with the kids for another half an hour, Punk and Emma managed to get the kids up to their bedroom and tuck them in for the night. Emma watched Punk tuck Jenna in last. "Good night, princess," he whispered as he kissed her forehead and slowly walked out of her room. Emma felt like her heart was going to break. She had been holding in the secret of Jenna's conception since the child was six months old; she had just turned three a few weeks ago. Emma wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be able to keep it from him. Part of the reason she wanted the divorce was, yes, she wanted to be with Scott and hold him to all of the promises he had made her, the other part wanted to push Punk away so she wouldn't hurt him by hearing the awful truth that his wife had been hiding from him._

"_Now...Your turn..." he whispered as he pulled her in close for a hug and started backing them up towards their bedroom. They had two weeks of love making to catch up on and he intended to start right now. As he started kissing her neck and unbuttoning her shirt, she started to panic. She had to do this now. "Punk...stop..." she whispered in between kisses._

_He shook his head, "Nope, need to feel you," he mumbled into her ear. She pushed him away. "Whoa. What's the matter, Emmy?" he asked with a confused look on his face._

"_We need to talk," she said quietly as she sat down on the edge of the bed._

_It was never good when a woman said 'we need to talk', Punk thought to himself as he sat down next to her. "What's the matter?" he asked softly._

"_I want a divorce," she whispered._

_He looked at his wife in disbelief. "I'm sorry, Emmy, can you repeat that?"_

"_I want a divorce," she whispered again, still not looking at him._

_He placed a hand on her chin and forced her to look at him. "What the fuck are you talking about?" he growled. _

"_This isn't working. I want out," she whispered while avoiding his eyes._

"_Damn it. Look at me, Emmy. What are you talking about? Why the hell would you want a divorce?" he said as he started to raise his voice._

"_I just want out."_

"_Bullshit. Tell me why."_

_Emma moved away from him and stood up. "I already filed the papers. They're on the kitchen table," she said quietly before she walked out of the room and headed downstairs. Punk followed her. He had to remind himself to not start raising his voice; his kids were sleeping. _

_He caught her arm in the living room and turned her towards him. "Why?" he asked again._

"_It's over, Phil. I just...I want out. This isn't working anymore. You're gone all the time and I'm stuck here with the kids...and...I just want out."_

"_Emma, we've been married for a long time, we have three fucking kids together! It's just not that easy to say 'all right' and just end it! You need to talk to me!" he demanded as she tried to move out of his grasp._

"_It's over, Phil. That's…..that's all there is to it….Please sign the papers and make an appointment with your lawyer before you take off for the road again," she said softly as she grabbed a quilt from the couch and headed towards the guest room, leaving Punk to stare after his wife in disbelief. _

_He needed to get out of here; he needed to talk to someone. Grabbing his car keys off the coffee table where he had dropped them when he had come home less than an hour ago, he took off. Being careful not to slam the door behind him, he closed it softly. Getting in the car, he took off across town to talk to his best friend. Scott would know what to do—if his best friend wasn't able to give him any advice, at least he would be there to listen to him vent his frustrations._

_Scott answered the door, clad in only his pajama pants. "Hey, man, you're back early," he said with an easy smile. He was going to say more, but one look on his buddy's face, told him that he was not in a joking mood right now. He moved aside and let Punk inside. "What happened? I thought for sure that if you were home early, you'd be all over Emma right now?"_

"_She wants a damn divorce!" Punk shouted as he started to pace around his friend's small apartment. "I came home a day early to surprise her and what does she fucking tell me? That she wants a divorce! She said it isn't working anymore and that she wants out!"_

"_Dude, calm down…." Scott said slowly, trying to digest everything that was happening right now. She had really done it—she was leaving Punk for him. He fought like hell to keep the smile from forming on his face. _

"_What the hell is going on?" another voice said from the hallway. Punk and Scott both looked up to see Beth standing in the hallway, one hand on her scantily clad hip, the other hand absentmindedly twirling a piece of blond hair around her fingers. Punk's mouth dropped as he took in Beth and then he looked at his friend, who wasn't wearing enough clothes either. "Shit," he mumbled and started towards the door. "Didn't mean to interrupt anything," he continued to mumble as Scott and Beth both followed him to the door. "I'll, um, catch up with you later, man," he said before he reached for the door knob._

"_Punk, stay, man. You don't have to leave. What's going on? What happened with Emma?" Scott said as he grabbed his friend's arm and led him back into the living room. Punk sat down on the couch, his best friend on one side of him, and his friend's…lover (?) on the other side of him._

"_What happened?" Beth asked, trying to keep the contempt out of her voice as she thought about Punk's bitch wife, Emma._

"_She wants out. Said she doesn't want to do it anymore," Punk said softly as he stared at the wall ahead of him as his mind wandered back to him and Emma's long relationship….._


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

"_How can she want out? It doesn't make sense! Everything is damn near perfect!" Punk grumbled as he paced back and forth in Scott's small living room. Beth and Scott both watched with amused interest as their mutual friend paced back and forth; each had the same question on their mind: how long before the divorce can be finalized?_

"_Did something happen? Did you do something to piss her off?" Scott asked innocently._

_Punk stopped in his tracks and thought about it for a minute. "Nope. Everything is fine. She gets treated like a fucking princess and gets whatever she wants—the big house in the suburb, the new car, she gets her nails done every week; I don't make her work. All she has to do is take care of the kids. There's no reason for her to want to divorce me; unless she's tired of me being on the road all the time….But I've asked her over and over again if she wants to come with me. She keeps saying that she can't, not with the kids being so little yet…." Scott knew the truth—he knew that Emma was bored; she wanted more out of life than just being a good little housewife and mother. The problem was that she didn't know what she want, but whatever it was, Scott wanted to give it to her._

"_Or maybe she's seeing someone else?" Beth interjected quietly. Scott shot her a sneaky warning look. She needed to play it cool if they were going to pull this off. They both had a vested interest in the upcoming break-up of the Brooks; she couldn't just act on impulse and blurt out that his wife had been cheating on him with his best friend. Sure, Emma had told him to back off a while ago, but that didn't stop him from wanting her every single day. And it didn't stop her from calling him when she was feeling extra lonely and had one too many glasses of wine. It worked out for both of them, and now that Punk was about to leave the picture, he would have his chance. Beth wanted Punk. Plain and simple. She had been in love with him for a long time, but Emma had always stood in her way of getting what she wanted. Not anymore. It was Beth's turn._

"_She would never do that," Punk immediately shot back. "My Emmy loves me. She would __**never**__ let another man touch her. We've been through too much for her to do something like that to me. Hell…..I'm the only one she's been with…"_

_**.**_

_**.**_

_**Punk groaned as his girlfriend turned the station on the radio. Again. She had this horrible habit of switching the station from his heavy metal station to her 'oldies' station whenever she felt like. It was a good thing she was so hot, he would thrown any other girl out the door for touching his radio. But Emma was different; there was something about her that drew him to her. Maybe it was because she was just like him—wild and didn't care what anyone else thought. Maybe it was because her mother, Evelyn, had banned Emma from seeing him. Whatever it was, he liked it.**_

_**They were sitting on his bed listening to the radio on a Saturday night, just the two of them. She had stolen his Misfits sweatshirt again and was refusing to give it back. He really didn't mind when she stole it; because when he did get it back, it would smell like her perfume, and that scent drove him insane.**_

_**She was lying on her back looking at the ceiling and singing softly to herself when Punk crawled over and hovered above her before leaning down to capture her mouth in a sweet kiss. They had been 'dating' now for a few months and hadn't gone very far in the make-out department yet; he knew she was a virgin and promised that he would take it slow with her. But, honestly, when your girlfriend looks like Emma does, how long could she possibly expect him to wait?**_

_**He broke the kiss and starting leaving a trail of soft kisses across her cheek and over to her ear.**_

_**As soon as his teeth found her ear lobe, things started to heat up; her contented sighs were enough to drive him insane. Very slowly he made her sit up and lifted his sweatshirt off of her, leaving her sitting up with nothing but a very thin white tank top. He held back a groan and laid her back down, his mouth exploring all of the newly exposed skin...**_

_**Things continued to heat up, clothes were being discarded faster than before. He started to pull her jeans down when she stopped him. He sighed, knowing that he had gone too fast and now she was going to leave. "Slow down for a second..." she whispered as she ran her fingers through his long hair. "I need to know something, Punk..." she said softly as she pulled him closer for a kiss, with her eyes still closed after the kiss broke. "Are you still going to love me tomorrow morning?" she asked as she opened her eyes and bit her bottom lip, looking into his eyes, trying to figure out his level of sincerity.**_

_**He nodded. "Yeah...there's something about you, Emmy...that I really like..." he whispered as he felt her hand guide his hand back down to her hips and started to help him pull her jeans all the way off.**_

_**After a few more minutes of intense kissing and touching, Punk slowly rolled off of her and reached over to the dresser beside his bed and opened the top drawer, never taking his eyes off of her. She looked terrified as she laid in his bed, covered up with a sheet and biting her bottom lip. He gave her a small smile as he found what he was looking for in the drawer and came back onto the bed.**_

_**He slipped the condom on, using one of her hands to help him, and kissed her deeply on the mouth, taking what he wanted from her before he pulled away and settled in between her legs. "Are you sure?" he whispered.**_

_**She nodded and closed her eyes. He bent his head down to her neck and kissed gently while he pushed himself in; he stopped when she cried out and buried her head in his shoulder. "Emmy...Emmy Sue..." he whispered softly as he started moving..**_

_**.**_

_**.**_

"_Are you sure?" Beth responded; she wanted to get a rise out of Punk right now, she wanted him to start to get suspicious so he would push the divorce proceedings along more quickly. Then she would get her chance to be with him faster. "You are on the road an awful lot…."_

"_Yes, I'm sure. She's my fucking wife, Beth. I know her better than anyone else. There's no way she would do that to me….to us….to our fucking kids," Punk let out a loud sigh and fell to the floor. It finally hit him—if she divorced him for real, then he would lose his kids. Everyone thought he was just an asshole who didn't care for anyone else. Little did they know, that being a dad was one of his greatest accomplishments—he loved those kids. Jack was his boy; he was almost an exact carbon copy of him. The kid shared his dad's love for wrestling, baseball and his taste in music was beginning to become the same as his. Joshua was his buddy—he always wanted to help him with whatever he was doing—mowing the lawn, fixing a leaky faucet. Anything Punk was doing, Josh was there being his shadow. And his princess, Jenna….At first he wasn't sure what the hell he would do with a daughter, but one look at her little face when she was born, changed everything. She was an exact carbon copy of his beloved Emma; from the soft brown hair, to the sparkling blue eyes often filled with mischief, and down to the dimple in her cheek with she smiled. "What if she tries to take my kids away from me," Punk eventually whispered._

_Scott felt his heart rate pick up; Jenna was his. He loved the boys too, but Jenna was his little angel, even though the DNA test said he wasn't her real dad, he still felt like the test had to be wrong; he had made love to Emma the same week that she had gotten pregnant. The test had to be wrong. "She's a bitch, man," Scott forced himself to say even though it pained him. It was all part of the act, Beth had reassured him. he had to act like he didn't give a shit about Emma and try to convince Punk to just give up so his and Beth's plan would work. "She'll probably take them away from you."_

_Beth laughed out loud. "Are you sure they're all yours?" she asked as she ignored the look of horror on Scott's face right now. He was too timid; he needed to learn to play rough if he wanted to get what he wanted._

"_Yes, I'm sure they're all mine," Punk snapped back immediately. "She would never cheat on me. Never. There must be some other reason as to why she's trying to break up with me."_

"_Maybe you should just break up with her," Beth suggested innocently. "I mean, that would teach her a lesson. What would she do if you weren't there bringing money home every week? She'd be out on the street." Even though it would please her to no end to see Emma out on the streets with her brats, she had to at least pretend to be a reassuring friend._

"_I could never do that to her. I'm….I'm just going to let this play out and see if she's just pissed off about something."_

"_You should divorce her first," Beth responded quickly._

_Punk shook his head. "No. She promised me forever and a day. Our time isn't up yet. I can't let her give up on me."_


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

The ride back to the hotel was silent except for the sound of Jenna whining about how she didn't want to go to sleep yet; she wanted to go back to the arena and play with her new friend, and favorite wrestler of all time (right now anyways), John Cena. "Jenna, for the last time, we are going back to the hotel and you are going to get your pajamas on and go to sleep. It's been a very long day," Punk said calmly as he watched his youngest in the rear view mirror. She had a sassy pout on her face that was telling her daddy that she might go to sleep eventually, but her parents were going to have to work at it.

"But, daddy, I don't want to go to sleep. I'm not tired," she said with a small yawn. Emma glanced over at Punk and saw a small smile on his face. He always seemed to know how to handle one of the kids when they didn't want to listen. It makes him a great father, Emma thought to herself as she watched her husband's profile in the darkened car. She felt the sting of tears in her eyes when she thought about how great of a husband he had been too—the Phil she knew was different from the Phil other people knew. They only knew Punk the wrestler; she knew Punk the man. "I want to stay up with you and mama….." Jenna trailed off with another yawn.

.

.

Punk carried a sleeping Jenna through the hotel lobby and to the elevator with Emma trailing behind him. She hadn't said a word to him since earlier that night when Beth showed up and Emma had finally snapped and taken out her frustration on Beth. She knew that Beth wanted to be more than just friends with her husband—and the thought of her husband being touched by any other woman drove her insane. Now she knew how Punk had felt when he found about her and Scott. If I didn't feel like shit before, I sure do now, she thought to herself.

Scott. Scott. What the hell was she going to do about him? She had gotten sucked into his sweet words and his gentle kisses. He had been there with a friendly shoulder all those lonely nights that Punk was on the road. She had given into lust, desire and the promise of a more exciting life with him. He had promised that he would never leave her for days or weeks at a time like Punk did. He promised that he would always be there for her, whenever she needed. He said he wanted to be there for the kids too; especially since he told her that Jenna was actually his baby. He wanted to have more babies with her and raise them in a big happy home, instead of a lonely one like she had now. Maybe instead of listening to Scott's sweet talking, she should have just talked to her husband and let him know how she was feeling—alone. Punk would have done anything, **anything**, to keep Emma happy.

Scott still tried to call her every other day or sent her a text, begging her to talk to him. "We have so much to talk about, Em. I know things aren't going according to how we thought they would, but, baby…..I know you. I know you better than Punk does. I know you're bored; I know you're tired of being at home with the kids. Let me save you. Let me put some excitement back in to your life." Emma had been deleting the messages and ignoring the calls since the night that she found out that Scott had lied about him being Jenna's father. That would be all she needed right now—for Punk to find out that Scott had been calling her daily, begging her to come back to him. If her husband knew about that, all it was going to do was cause another huge fight between the newly reunited couple and eventually lead to their final demise.

.

.

"Emma," Punk's voice broke through her solemn thoughts about Scott. She looked up and saw that he had his hands full with Jenna and was motioning her for to unlock the door. She had been so lost in her thoughts she hadn't even noticed that they had made it back to their room.

She unlocked the door and held the door open for him and he carried the sleeping child into their room. Very gently he laid her on one of the beds and took her little shoes off and covered her up with her Toy Story blanket. "Good night, Jenners," he whispered as he kissed her forehead and turned the lamp off on the side of that room. He turned and looked at Emma, who was still standing by the door. He held out his hand and motioned for her to follow him into the other room. He waited for her to go into the room before he halfway closed the door to the other room. Being a big star in the WWE was finally beginning to pay off—instead of the crappy one bed motel rooms that he usually got stuck in, he was provided with a five star suite.

He went over and sat down on the couch. Emma sat down in a recliner across from him. "We should talk, I guess," he began slowly, looking down at the floor. He didn't know what to say to Emma. All he wanted was for things to go back to the way they were before—before he was a huge star, before she started to feel lonely and turned to his best friend for comfort. He wanted his old Emmy Sue back—the one who laughed at his jokes, begged him to make love to her. He wanted the Emmy Sue back that loved being a mother and wife, the one who cried when he would go on the road. He wanted his girl back—he wanted the girl he fell in love with.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, we should….Do…you…." she sighed as she stuttered over her words. She took a deep breath and began again. "Would you like me and Jenna to fly back to Chicago tomorrow?" she finally blurted out.

He blinked his eyes and pretended to clean out his ear. Did he just hear her right? "Why would I want you to do that, Em? I've been begging you to come on the road with me for over a year now…..I finally got you to agree and now you want to go home right away? You've only been with me for a day…."

"I…I just thought that maybe after what had happened tonight, you changed your mind…." she said softly, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Change my mind about what?" he asked warily. He gave her a minute to answer; when she didn't say anything, he spoke up again. "Change my mind about what, Emma?"

Again, she was silent for a while before she finally lifted her sad blue eyes up to look at him. "About us….I thought…maybe you changed your mind about me and you…."

"Aw…Em…" he started to say, but the look on her face told him to stop talking and to let her finish.

"I fucked up, Phil. I really did. And it feels like," she let out a deep breath, "and it feels like this all a dream and I'm going to wake up all alone in our big bed, you're going to either be out on the road or across the city in your crappy apartment, and we're going to be fighting. Punk, something isn't right. It doesn't feel right that you forgave me this quickly. What I did was horrible—I not only broke your trust and broke our marriage vows, I put our three innocent kids through hell," she hurriedly wiped away at the tears that kept falling down her cheeks when she thought of how bad she had probably screwed up Josh and Jenna by kicking Punk out and then letting him back in; she didn't even want to begin to think about how bad Jack's relationship with Punk was going to be after what the boy saw.

"Our kids are all screwed up now," she continued as she kept wiping tears from her eyes. "Jack saw you and Scott fist fighting and saw you get hauled off to jail. He hasn't talked to you since that night. Josh is having meltdowns because he thinks that one day he's gonna wake up and you're going to be gone forever. Jenna is the same way—she doesn't want to let you out of her sight."

Punk scooted closer to Emma. "Em…things are going to be fine. Once things settle down and the kids see that we're fine, they'll calm down."

"What about Scott?" he stiffened up at the sound of his former best friend's name. "They're going to be confused when they don't see him coming around anymore. They adore him."

"I don't know what to do about him. Obviously things can't be like they used to be; something has to change. But you're right, Emmy. For some reason, those three simply adore that big nerd, and I know he really cares for the kids too. I….I don't know what we're gonna do, Em…." he said softly as he moved his arm so she could settle in closer to him. "All I know, is that I love you, you love me, and….we'll make it," he murmured as he kissed the top of her head. They had to make it. They just had to.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

"So, why did you forgive me so quickly?" Emma asked as she snuggled up against Punk's chest. While she was happy that he would be able to move past her infidelity, she needed to know that he wasn't going to try and use it against her down the road. "I did something horrible and you yelled for a little bit and now you're fine," she whispered. "It doesn't make sense….how do I know you're not going to hold this over my head for the rest of our lives?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I love you, Em. All I've ever wanted to do was to make you happy."

"Is it enough?" she whispered.

"I hope so," he said quietly. "When we got married, you promised me forever and a day. I'm holding you to that even if you won't. I can't stop loving you. You've been such a big part of my life, Em, that I couldn't imagine my life without you," he said softly. Punk was never big on admitting his feelings. Emma knew that when her husband talked like this, she had better listen. "And the kids….I never thought I would want kids. I never thought that I could love anyone as much as I love you. I never thought that being someone's dad would be a bigger rush than winning a championship."

He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. "You and the kids are what keep me sane. When everything else—being buried at work, the nasty travel schedule, having to put up with stupid marks—gets me down, I just have to close my eyes and think of your pretty face and it all disappears." He stopped talking briefly, allowing time to let his words sink into Emma. "No one is ever going to love you like I do….No one can even come close…."

.

.

A little while later, Emma went to bed while Punk stayed up. His insomnia was creeping back tonight even though he had Emma by his side. A smile formed on his face as he watched her sleep peacefully. He leaned over her, kissed her on the forehead and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders. He walked away from the bed and was about to check in on Jenna when he heard Emma's cell phone beep with a text message. He knew that he should do the right thing and just let it be, but he couldn't help himself; he had convinced himself that in order for them to move forward he needed to forgive her, but that didn't stop him from being curious about who was texting his wife at two in the morning. Glancing over at her to make sure that she was still fast asleep, he crept over to her phone and picked it up.

Unlocking the phone, he held his breath as he opened her text message folder. "Son of a bitch," he growled softly as he read the message.

"_**Babe, we need to talk. I need to explain why I did what I did with Jenna's papers. I love you. And I know you still love me. I know you well enough to know that you only got back together with Punk because you got scared. I won't let anything happen to you. Please. Talk to me."**_

He dropped the phone on the nightstand and paced silently back and forth. What was going to do? The macho manly part of him wanted to fly straight to Chicago and beat the crap out of Colton for still trying to get his wife to leave him. The other part of him, the rational part, knew he had to count to ten, take a deep breath and have faith that his wife wasn't going to fall for her former lover's sweet words.

What should he do? Should he shake Emma awake and demand to know what's going on between her and Scott? Or should he confront Scott himself. He was about to dial Scott's number and have it out with him when he heard Emma calling his name softly. "Punk? What are you doing?" she mumbled as she struggled to sit up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Damn it, he thought to himself, he must have been grumbling and pacing too loudly and had woken her up. "Why do you have my phone?" she asked with soft interest. Punk still had her cell phone clutched in his hands.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned forward, his head resting in his hands. "Why is Colton still texting you?" he whispered.

She didn't quite hear him the first time. Pushing the blanket off of her she moved over to the edge of the bed with him. "What?" she asked softly.

His head snapped up, hazel eyes flashing, he growled, "I said, why the fuck is Colton still texting you."

Emma's mouth dropped open. "What is your problem, Punk….We've talked about this…nothing is going on between me and Scott—"

He scoffed. "Yeah, now. Now that I know all about what you two had been up to while I was gone," he shot back. Emma rolled her eyes and started to move away from him; it was too late to deal with this right now. Punk reached out and grabbed Emma's arm. "Stay put. I'm not done talking to you yet," he growled.

Emma let out a dry chuckle and moved his hand off of her arm. "You know, I've never let you talk to me this way before, and I sure as hell am not going to let you start now," she said evenly.

"Well, you've never cheated on me before, said you were sorry, but are still texting your little lover," he shouted a little too loud.

"Shut up," she hissed. "You're going to wake up Jenna."

"Waking up Jenna is the least of my concerns right now," he said coldly. "I'm more concerned with figuring out if my wife, who swears up and down that she'll never do it again, is still cheating on me!"

Emma closed her eyes and counted to three; she was going to let that comment roll off her back. "If you would let me say something, I could tell you that, yes, Scott's been texting and calling me, but I haven't been responding or answering. After what he did to me," she reached out and touched Punk's hand, what he did to us," he let her keep her hand on top of his. "I don't ever want to talk to him again. I know what he's been saying and I don't want to hear it."

"How do I know you're not just saying that tonight so you don't have to fight with me, Em?" Punk insisted on asking. He wanted to hear it from her; he wanted to hear the words come out of her mouth.

"I. Love. You." Moving closer to him, she straddled his hips and settled on his lap. She took his face in her hands and looked him in the eyes. "Open your eyes," she whispered. He opened his eyes slowly and looked at his wife—her blue eyes filled with sincerity. "I love you, Phil. I was such an idiot for doing what I did with Scott. And even after everything that's happened over the past few months, you've still loved me." She gently stroked his cheek with her thumb. "I can't apologize enough for what happened. Please," she whispered, "don't give up on me. Don't give up on us…."

.

.

**Two Months Later**

"Hey, Emmy…..you all right?" Punk called from the other side of the closed bathroom door. He tried to keep a smile from his face. It wasn't nice to be smiling and happy when his poor wife was throwing up. He heard the toilet flush and the sink water run. A minute or so later, a very tired looking Emma emerged from the bathroom with a fresh mouth and a hand on her upset stomach.

"You're lucky I love you…." she mumbled as she walked past him. She stopped a few steps away and turned around. "I almost forgot…." she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Six and a half more months," she mumbled as she rested her head on his chest briefly.

"You'll be fine, baby. You're a great mama….." he whispered encouragingly into her ear as he pulled her closer to him.


End file.
